India’s largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is making headlines with its latest decision to lay off approximately 12,000 employees globally—roughly 2% of its workforce. This move, while significant, is being positioned as part of a broader organizational restructuring to align with evolving technology demands and operational efficiency.
TCS’s workforce stood at 6.13 lakh as of June 30, 2025, slightly lower than its peak of 6.14 lakh in FY23. Despite hiring over 5,000 employees in the April-June quarter of FY26, the company is moving towards a strategic workforce realignment, with a focus on upskilling and redeployment.
According to CEO K. Krithivasan, the layoffs will not be abrupt. Instead, they will be rolled out gradually over the fiscal year 2026. “We won’t do it in a hurry. We will first talk to the people that could be impacted… we will do it in a very, very compassionate way,” he said. Most of the affected employees are from mid and senior-level roles, reflecting a shift towards a more agile and future-ready talent base.
TCS has reassured its commitment to humane practices, stating that affected employees will receive notice-period pay, severance packages, extended insurance, as well as counseling and outplacement assistance.
The move, however, has stirred concerns across the Indian IT industry, already facing mounting cost pressures, automation shifts, and evolving client demands. The Ministry of Information Technology has confirmed it is closely monitoring the situation.
As the IT landscape transforms, TCS’s approach signals a tough but calculated pivot—balancing business sustainability with employee support in a rapidly digitizing world.