Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the pillars of India’s IT industry, is facing serious questions after an IT employees’ union alleged that the company has quietly laid off as many as 30,000 employees over the past 12 months.
The allegations, made by the IT Employees Association of India (ITEAI), accuse TCS of masking mass layoffs as performance-related terminations. The union claims employees were dismissed without formal layoff notices, and in some cases, without severance or exit support.
TCS has declined to comment directly on the numbers but issued a brief statement reaffirming its commitment to a “merit-based appraisal system.”
Industry watchers suggest the job reductions may be linked to TCS’s recent pivot toward AI-driven operations and the adoption of GenAI platforms, which has significantly reduced headcount needs in backend operations, manual testing, and legacy support services.
While TCS has seen steady revenue growth — reporting over ₹1.8 lakh crore in revenue for FY25 — employee count has reportedly dipped quarter over quarter, with the most recent earnings report indicating a net reduction of 12,000 employees globally.
Unions, meanwhile, have vowed to escalate the matter both legally and publicly. “We are preparing formal complaints to the Ministry of Labour and international watchdogs,” said an ITEAI representative. “These terminations violate basic employment rights.”
TCS’s silence on the scale of the layoffs is drawing criticism, especially amid rising fears of instability in India’s IT job market. With tech layoffs already prevalent in startups and multinational firms, the situation at TCS could spark a larger debate on employment security in the post-AI era.
