In an attempt to dispel the “extremely exaggerated numbers” that are circulating, CHRO Sudeep Kunnumal said Thursday that TCS, the largest IT services company in India, had “released” 6% of its workforce, or 6,000 people, as part of a restructuring exercise it had started.
TCS Mid-Senior Level Layoffs
Kunnumal, the chief human resources officer at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said that the business is “not chasing a figure.” When asked about the real number of layoffs, Kunnumal said that “a lot of these statistics are not accurate, are very overblown,” and “should be dismissed” due to popular concerns that the number may be as high as 50,000 to 80,000.
The Nascent Information Technology people Senate (NITES), a union representing IT professionals, claimed in a statement that TCS has formally recorded a closing headcount of 593,314 people in Q2 FY26, as opposed to 613,069 personnel in Q1 FY26. “In only one quarter, this amounts to a net drop of 19,755 jobs,” it said. “As we speak today, we have discharged over 1% of persons at the mid and senior level who we were unable to redeploy in the appropriate job,” Kunnumal said on Thursday. “Yes, precisely at the mid and senior level sector,” Kunnumal said when asked whether 1% only equated to 6,000 persons.
TCS Focuses on Hiring, AI Growth
According to him, during the most recent quarter, the firm employed 18,500 new employees. He emphasized that every promise that was made had been fulfilled. He said, “As an organization, we will continue to honor all the offers,” and that the business is proceeding according to plan with regard to onboarding campus offerings. He added, “I do not want to give you a figure,” when asked whether TCS will keep its recruiting goal of 40,000 or more for FY26 (as stated in July) or if it has changed in light of the state of the global market. We will support and work to bring in the finest personnel for our organization to help design the journey depending on business requirements.
According to him, TCS aims to become the biggest AI-led IT services provider in the world. TCS said in July of this year that it will lay off 12,261 workers, or about 2% of its worldwide workforce, this year, with the bulk of those affected being in the middle and senior grades. The corporation then claimed that the action was a component of its larger plan to create a “future-ready organization,” which centered on personnel restructuring, market growth, AI deployment, and technological investments.
TCS Ensures Fair Severance, Bonuses
Unions, however, have contested the stated layoff figures and accused TCS of using coercive measures by threatening workers withhold benefits and pay. When we started this exercise, we made it clear that we would approach it with a great deal of respect and understanding. And I can declare with confidence and conviction that we succeeded in doing so; we established specialized teams to have very sympathetic discussions and assist them in doing so. “We benchmarked severance compensation for the impacted individuals,” he said.
According to Kunnumal, the corporation will be paying out more quarterly incentives or variable components this quarter than it did in prior quarters. In essence, it includes everyone who has worked for our company and is eligible for the quarterly bonus, with the possible exception of recent hires. However, it covers almost everyone. “Normally, we have been paying 100% at the junior level, and we will continue to do so. For seniors, we will pay a larger amount, which is also dependent on individual and unit performance,” he added.