TCS offers 50% extra payout to recruiters who deliver skilled candidates
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company, is intensifying its focus on hiring higher-quality talent by offering enhanced incentives to its recruitment vendors. The move, aimed at addressing over 3,000 open vacancies, reflects the company’s shift towards skill-based hiring in the face of growing technological demands and client expectations.
According to a report published by Livemint, TCS has rolled out a strategic incentive programme that provides up to 50% higher payouts to vendors who deliver candidates that pass the company’s rigorous quality assessments. This marks a deliberate turn from traditional high-volume hiring practices to a more quality-conscious recruitment approach.
TCS Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad, in recent meetings with vendors across cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, made it clear that candidate quality must improve. These meetings reportedly emphasised urgency in sourcing talent with proven technical expertise, particularly in high-demand domains.
“We are looking for skilled professionals who can hit the ground running. The emphasis is on quality, not just numbers,” Lakkad said in discussions, as reported by Livemint.
The company has identified over 3,000 current job openings, with a notable focus on roles in Java programming for the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sector, along with SAP, testing, and .Net technologies. These roles require domain-specific knowledge and hands-on experience, highlighting the company’s push for delivery-ready talent.
According to the report, at least 200 positions are open in Java, 100 in SAP, and around 300 in testing and .Net. The company is reportedly working on an accelerated hiring timeline to fill these roles and ensure project continuity during what it expects to be a strong first half of FY 2025–26.
TCS’s incentive model is being seen as a direct response to recent challenges in talent sourcing, particularly the inconsistency in quality among shortlisted candidates. Recruiters who successfully meet TCS’s quality thresholds will benefit from increased payouts—potentially setting a new benchmark in how major IT firms engage with external hiring partners.
By offering financial rewards for excellence, TCS is signalling its intent to raise the bar across the recruitment ecosystem. The move also aligns with the company’s broader strategy to build a future-ready workforce, equipped to handle complex client demands in emerging technologies such as AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.
While the incentive plan demonstrates aggressive intent to plug talent gaps, TCS has reportedly remained cautious about broader compensation moves. According to the same Livemint report, the company has not rolled out planned wage hikes for its general workforce, citing ongoing uncertainty in the global economic and business environment.
This juxtaposition—of slowing general salary growth while incentivising targeted hiring—illustrates a strategic calibration. TCS appears to be investing selectively, betting on quality hires that deliver immediate impact rather than expanding its workforce indiscriminately.