TCS Layoffs: In a move that has sent ripples across the tech employment landscape, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India’slargest IT firms, is letting go of over 12,000 employees in what is being termed one of the biggest job cuts in its history. For the fiscal year 2025–2026, the huge layoffs, which will impact around 2% of its global workforce, have caught state authorities’ attention.
State Minister Raises Concerns Over Sudden Job Cuts
Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad has called the development “alarming,” noting the unusually large number of layoffs by a firm as prominent as TCS. “Something unique this is, because all of a sudden 12,000 people, that too TCS, is a very huge number… It is an alarming one. Our people are talking to them… I will also get to know the reason beyond it… Will look into labour law… Leniency has always been given to sunrise companies,” Lad told the media on Wednesday.
The Minister’s remarks suggest that the Karnataka government may soon initiate a dialogue with the IT major to understand the underlying cause and ensure that labour rights are not compromised in the process. Karnataka’s IT industry, especially Bengaluru, is a significant employer, so a move like this from a leader in the field is probably going to draw further attention.
It’s Strategy, Not AI-Driven Downsizing
In response to rumors about AI-driven job losses, TCS CEO K. Krithivasan explained that the layoffs are a strategic choice meant to make the organization “more nimble and future-ready,” not the product of automation or AI-driven efficiency.
“It is not because we need fewer people. We will continue to look for high-quality talent, acquiring and training talent. That continues to happen. This is more about where there is feasibility of deployment,” Krithivasan was quoted as saying in a report by Moneycontrol.
The company has trained over 550,000 employees in basic AI and about 100,000 in advanced AI skills in anticipation of shifting technology paradigms. The difficulty many mid- to senior-level professionals have had adapting to emergent digital areas, particularly those that align with traditional project methods, may have contributed to the current employment rearrangement, according to sources.
TCS Layoffs Mid- and Senior-Level Staff Bear the Brunt
While the layoffs have affected some junior employees, notably those who remained on the bench for long periods, the brunt of the cuts appears to have fallen on mid- and senior-level professionals. These workers now struggle to fit in with TCS’s reorganized, AI-focused workforce, even though many of them played key roles in the company’s original project-based delivery approach.
A number of multinational tech companies are currently reassessing worker dynamics in response to technology advancements and shifting customer needs, which coincides with TCS’s historic step. Given the strain that the global economy is already placing on India’s IT sector, the recent occurrence may be a sign of more deliberate staff changes in the months to come.
Since a significant portion of TCS’s Indian operations are based in Karnataka, everyone is now watching the state’s labor department to see how it will react. Because of Minister Lad’s intervention, there may be policy-level conversations on transition training, job security, and regulatory oversight in the IT industry, particularly with regard to significant labor reductions.
