Involuntary attrition at Wipro [Get Quote], which peaked in the second quarter of FY09, is expected to continue at least for another two quarters, according to the Bangalore-based company.

In the third quarter, about 1,200 people have been asked to quit on grounds such as poor performance, background verification and integrity.

"If you look at these numbers, the two per cent involuntary attrition what we have reported in the third quarter is less than the previous quarter when we reported 2.5 per cent involuntary attrition.

"In coming days, I expect our involuntary attrition to remain the same, at least up to July. It will not go down," Pratik Kumar, corporate V-P (HR), Wipro, told Business Standard.

Other than the involuntary attrition, the company has reported voluntary attrition of 11.9 per cent in the third quarter. This has resulted in a drop in the number of employees in the third quarter for the second time in the current financial year.

The company started seriously looking at issues such as poor performance and fudged employment details in the second quarter of FY09 when the rate of voluntary attrition suddenly went up from just 0.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent. In the previous three quarters, the rate varied between 0.5 and 0.8 per cent.

Due to the current economic environment, IT firms are getting quite tough on integrity issues and performance which are resulting in a higher level of involuntary attrition. In the third quarter, Infosys Technologies [Get Quote], the second largest IT exporter in India, reported involuntary attrition of 1.5 per cent.

This suggests that close to 1,800 people were asked to quit during the period.