Information technology firm Cognizant's headcount has dropped by more than 7,000 in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 when compared to the same quarter of last year.

In its first-quarter results (January to March), the company mentioned that headcount was 344,400 at the end of Q1. Cognizant follows the calendar year.

"Total headcount at the end of the first quarter was 344,400, a decrease of 3,300 from Q4 2023 and a decrease of 7,100 from Q1 2023," the company said in a statement.

The IT firm's attrition rate fell by 10 percentage points to 13.1 per cent on a trailing 12-month basis. Its utilisation rate improved by 1 percentage point to 82 per cent for the quarter ended March 31.

Meanwhile, leading IT firms witnessed a drop of nearly 70,000 employees in the last fiscal year (FY24) as revenue growth in the Indian IT services sector slowed due to global macroeconomic headwinds.

Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and Tech Mahindra, among others, lost a maximum number of employees in FY24.

While Infosys saw its employee headcount drop by 25,994, the headcount at TCS went down by 13,249, in FY24.

IT bellwether Wipro saw its employee strength fall by 6,180 in the fourth quarter (Q4) of FY24.