TCS says job cuts may continue after shedding 30,000 employees in six months

Tata Consultancy Services has said it will continue to let employees go if required, after the country’s largest IT services exporter reduced its workforce by around 30,000 people over the past six months.

The comments came after TCS reported its December-quarter results, with senior executives signalling that employee exits linked to an ongoing restructuring exercise could extend into 2026. The company stressed, however, that it was not pursuing target-driven layoffs.

According to Moneycontrol, TCS chief human resources officer Sudeep Kunnumal told analysts that exits would continue “if needed” and that every separation would be backed by a clear rationale and handled through an internal due process.

TCS has been restructuring teams since 2025, a period during which several large technology companies cut jobs amid slowing client spending and growing use of automation and artificial intelligence. While AI has been widely cited as a driver, TCS has not formally linked its workforce reduction to automation alone.

Headcount data points to a sharp contraction. In the October–December quarter, TCS reduced its workforce by 11,151 employees, taking its total headcount to 582,163 at the end of December, down from 593,314 in the previous quarter. This followed a reduction of 19,755 employees in the September quarter, implying a net fall of close to 30,000 staff over six months.

Moneycontrol reported that TCS directly let go of about 1,800 employees during the December quarter, with the larger decline in headcount reflecting a combination of terminations and natural attrition, as vacancies were not backfilled.

The company has maintained that exits are not driven by numbers. Kunnumal said the firm was not chasing a fixed headcount reduction and that separations occurred only when there was a “genuine reason”, according to Moneycontrol.

The workforce reductions come at a time of heightened anxiety among employees, amid tighter work-from-office requirements and delays in appraisal cycles. Some employees saw appraisals put on hold for failing to meet mandatory office attendance norms, with internal communications warning of further consequences for non-compliance.

For TCS, which employs more than half a million people, the continuation of exits underscores a cautious outlook as it balances margin pressures, uneven demand and changes to its operating model. Investors will be watching closely to see whether headcount stabilises in the coming quarters or whether further reductions signal a deeper structural reset.