Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reported a significant decline in its global workforce, with nearly 20,000 employees exiting during the quarter ending September 30. The reduction, which is substantially higher than earlier projections, has drawn attention from employee advocacy groups and industry observers amid ongoing restructuring efforts at the technology giant.
According to the company’s quarterly disclosure for Q2FY26, TCS’ total employee strength dropped from 6,13,069 as of June 30 to 5,93,314 by the end of September, reflecting a net loss of 19,755 employees. This marks one of the largest single-quarter declines in the company’s history.
Newly appointed Chief Human Resources Officer, Sudeep Kunnumal, said the exits included both voluntary resignations and management-driven attrition. Approximately 6,000 employees were “formally released” as part of the company’s structured workforce optimization. Kunnumal emphasized that TCS is about halfway through a planned realignment process aimed at building a leaner, more digitally skilled organization ready for its next growth phase.
In July, TCS had indicated plans to reduce roughly 2% of its global workforce—around 12,000 positions—primarily affecting mid- and senior-level staff. Kunnumal clarified that this estimate was not a fixed target but a projection based on business requirements. During the latest quarter, the company incurred approximately Rs 1,135 crore in severance expenses linked to the exits, signaling the financial impact of the restructuring.
While TCS has described the job cuts as part of its long-term transformation strategy, the move has drawn criticism from the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), an employee welfare group. NITES alleged that the actual number of employees affected is higher than what the company has disclosed, estimating that nearly 8,000 additional workers may have been let go beyond official figures. The organization claimed that TCS was underreporting the scale of layoffs, accusing the company of “downplaying retrenchments” and failing to maintain transparency with regulators and the public.
In a statement, NITES argued that attrition levels during the quarter had actually declined, implying that a substantial number of the departures were involuntary rather than voluntary. The group alleged that some of those affected had served the company for more than a decade, calling the practice “corporate cruelty.”
“TCS may present these job cuts as numbers on a balance sheet, but for us, they are stories of shattered lives,” NITES President Harpreet Singh Saluja said, accusing the company of choosing profits over people. “This is not restructuring; this is corporate cruelty. TCS has turned its workplace into a fear factory and betrayed the workforce that built its global reputation,” he added.
TCS, in response, reiterated that its workforce adjustments are part of a broader strategy to become a “future-ready organization” centered around emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and automation. The company stated that its focus on digital transformation, efficiency, and client readiness necessitates optimizing teams to align with new market demands.
Kunnumal said the company is providing extensive support to affected employees, including severance packages that exceed industry standards, career counselling, and outplacement assistance. He added that TCS remains committed to responsible workforce management and ensuring a fair transition for those impacted.
The ongoing restructuring marks only the second major workforce realignment in TCS’ five-decade history. Analysts note that the move underscores a broader trend across the IT services industry, where automation and AI-driven efficiency are prompting firms to recalibrate human resources in response to evolving client expectations.
With the IT sector entering a phase of transformation shaped by generative AI, automation, and shifting global demand, TCS’ latest workforce reduction could serve as a bellwether for similar changes across the technology services landscape. The company’s future quarters will likely determine whether this painful recalibration translates into improved agility, profitability, and competitiveness in the rapidly evolving digital economy.
