Driven by steady recovery in demand for technology services, the Indian IT industry is expected to hire about 2.5 lakh people during this fiscal, software representative body Nasscom today said.

"The top four players are expected to hire more than 1 lakh people this fiscal. The industry on a whole should add about quarter of a million people in this fiscal," Nasscom President Som Mittal told reporters here.

Pent-up demand for IT services after the slowdown and return of discretionary spending in the market are the key drivers, Mittal added.

Country's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), during its annual results announcement, said it expects to hire about 60,000 people in FY12.

Scam-hit Satyam, which has since been rebranded Mahindra Satyam after Tech Mahindra took over, plans to hire over 18,000 people this fiscal.

According to staffing firm TeamLease Services, the overall hiring sentiment is bullish in IT and ITeS sectors.

"The hiring intent in IT and ITeS was the highest in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune," it said.

For the year 2011-12, the industry body estimates the Indian IT-BPO sector has grown 19 per cent in 2010-11 to USD 76 billion in revenues.

"The market is upbeat but the Middle East and Japan crisis, the debt issue, these are macro economic variables and add to uncertainty. Economies are growing but companies are still cautious," Mittal said.