Rejected Once? The Reapplication Cooldown at TCS, Infosys and Others

Most large Indian IT employers enforce some form of cooling-off period after a rejection — commonly reported at around 6 months for TCS and closer to 9 months for Infosys — but the clock typically only starts if you actually sat the exam or interview. Registering without attending usually doesn't trigger it. Treat the exact number as employer- and cycle-specific rather than a fixed industry rule.

# 1. What actually starts the clock

The pattern reported most consistently: the cooldown applies from the date of the exam or interview you attended, not from the date you registered or applied. If you registered for a drive and never showed up, most candidate reports indicate you can reapply to the next drive without a forced wait — the rejection has to come from an actual attempt.

# 2. Reported cooldown periods

These figures come from candidate reports and drive notifications, not a single published policy page for either company — treat them as a reasonable expectation, not a guarantee, and confirm against the current notification before planning around them.

# 3. Does the cooldown apply across off-campus and on-campus drives?

Candidate reports generally describe the cooldown as applying across both channels — a rejection in an off-campus attempt is reported to affect eligibility for an on-campus drive at the same employer within the cooldown window, and vice versa. This is the kind of detail that's easy to get wrong from a forwarded message, so if your timeline depends on it, it's worth asking your placement cell or checking the employer's current notification directly.

# 4. Why trying to bypass it with a new email usually doesn't work

Application systems at this scale generally track candidates by identity fields that survive an email change — PAN, Aadhaar, phone number, or a resume-matching check. A new email address alone is unlikely to reset a cooldown, and an application that looks like an attempt to bypass one risks being flagged for reasons beyond the cooldown itself.

# 5. What to do while you wait

1. Confirm your actual rejection date, not your application date — that's what the clock runs from.
2. Use the window to address what likely caused the rejection — a coding gap, a specific round, or a documentation issue — rather than assuming identical reapplication will work differently.
3. Apply to other employers in the meantime. A cooldown at one company has no bearing on eligibility elsewhere.

# Sources and limitations

Cooldown periods are drawn from candidate reports and drive notifications as of 12 October 2026 — not a single confirmed policy document from either employer. These numbers are the most frequently updated and informally reported of any eligibility criterion in this cluster; confirm against your specific case before relying on them.