New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s largest IT services company, is in the midst of one of its biggest workforce changes in years, with employee numbers falling by nearly 30,000 over the past six months during a major restructuring exercise, reports India Today.
The company has said most of the exits are part of a planned and process-led approach. However, the scale and timing of the reductions show that the growing use of artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape India’s technology sector, prompting companies to rethink how they organise and deploy their workforce.
The process began in mid-2025, when TCS launched a large restructuring effort across teams. At the time, the company said shifting business needs, automation and the wider use of AI tools were changing how work is done. As the exercise progressed, several roles were combined, redesigned or gradually phased out. Although TCS did not describe the move as a mass layoff, employee departures increased steadily across departments.
The workforce reduction has unfolded over several months. In the July–September quarter of 2025, TCS reported a net decline of about 19,755 employees. This was followed by a further drop of 11,151 employees in the October–December quarter, figures released recently. Together, the two quarters account for close to 30,000 exits, bringing the company’s total workforce down to around 5.82 lakh, below the six-lakh level it had maintained for years.
The company later clarified that roughly 1,800 of the exits in the December quarter were direct terminations. The remaining reductions were attributed to natural attrition and the decision not to fill certain vacant positions.
TCS has publicly linked the workforce changes to restructuring and efficiency measures rather than a single factor, such as AI, directly replacing jobs.
However, analysts say the reasons are more complex. Studies indicate that many job cuts across the global technology sector are driven by cost control and performance reviews, along with changing client demands. Observers believe a combination of tighter budgets, performance assessment and evolving business needs is influencing TCS’s current downsizing.
Employee concerns have been heightened after the company acknowledged that the restructuring process is not yet complete. After announcing its third-quarter results, TCS said employee exits are likely to continue into the next quarter and possibly beyond if required.
Chief Human Resources Officer Sudeep Kunnumal told analysts that there is no fixed number for job cuts and that exits would occur whenever there is a clear and valid reason, leaving open the possibility of further reductions in 2026.
Alongside the layoffs, TCS has also tightened internal policies, particularly around office attendance. The company has reinforced its work-from-office requirement, asking employees to be present more often. Reports suggest some employees have seen delays in annual appraisals due to not meeting attendance norms. Internal communications reviewed by media outlets warn that continued non-compliance could affect performance ratings in the 2026 review cycle, adding to uncertainty among staff.
