Bengaluru, June 1 -- Almost half of Infosys Ltd's 320,000 employees are now over 30 years old, the highest in the last 15 years, underscoring the challenges faced by the country's second-largest IT services firm as more young people explore careers beyond the IT sector. At the end of fiscal year 2026, Infosys had 166,636 employees aged 30 and below, making up about 50.7% of its workforce, a Mint analysis of its annual filings over the last 15 years showed. The Bengaluru-based company ended last year with 328,594 employees, up 5,016 employees from the preceding fiscal year. The share of young employees fell from 53% in the previous fiscal year, continuing a trend of decline since FY23. The decrease in young employees was offset by an increase in those aged 31-50. Last fiscal, employees in the middle cohort made up 45.7% of the workforce, the highest in the last 15 years. Those over 50 made up 3.5% of the company's workforce. An email sent to Infosys seeking comments went unanswered. Industry experts attributed the gradual ageing to two factors: One, global capability centres (GCCs), or the in-house IT divisions of global companies, are scooping up beginners with better pay and job prospects. Two, IT firms themselves are hiring fewer freshers. "Of late, IT services firms have been looking to hire students for niche roles at higher packages. On the other hand, even the students are looking for companies that challenge their intellect and also offer scope for better career development. Many students are eyeing research-based roles and also in data science, cybersecurity," said K.S. Sridhar, placement head at PES University, an engineering college in Bengaluru. Infosys, which went public in 1993, started disclosing its age-based employee demographics in FY12. Until FY18, those aged 30 and below made up at least two-thirds of its workforce. However, the share has been falling since then. The company, founded by N.R. Narayana Murthy and his six friends in 1981, put India on the global software map at the turn of the 21st century. However, over the last decade, India has emerged as the main destination for back-end tech centres due to abundance of skilled talent at scale and a growing venture capitalist ecosystem giving a boost to startups. All of this opens new opportunities for the country's 1.5 engineering million graduates....