India’s Wipro said the number of staff working in its software services division declined in the final quarter of its latest fiscal year – the first time in the outsourcing company’s recent history its workforce has shrunk.

India’s third-largest information technology company said staff numbers fell by 401 employees to 74,986 in the unit during the three months to the end of March, in the strongest sign yet that India’s once high-flying software industry is suffering one of its deepest slowdowns.