Indian IT services multinational, Tata Consultancy Services, has completed its year-long workforce restructuring exercise, recording around 8,000 redundancies—significantly lower than the earlier estimate of 12,000.
The restructuring, first announced in July 2025, was aimed at reshaping the organisation to align with future technology demands. At the time, the company indicated that nearly 2 per cent of its global workforce—then over 6,00,000 employees—could be impacted, particularly in mid and senior roles. The initiative concluded in the third quarter of FY26, with total restructuring costs reaching Rs 1,388 crore. A large portion of the workforce reduction took place in phases, with about 6,000 exits in one quarter and the rest in the following period.
The company maintained that the exercise prioritised reskilling employees for emerging technologies. Only those who could not be redeployed within the new structure were released. Alongside this shift, TCS is reworking its hiring strategy. It is moving away from a traditional bench-based model to a more demand-driven approach, where hiring is closely aligned with project visibility.
This transition is also influencing campus recruitment. In FY26, TCS hired 44,000 fresh graduates and currently has visibility for 25,000 additional hires. The broader industry trend shows rising utilisation levels and leaner benches, driven by a focus on productivity and outcomes rather than workforce size.
Hiring priorities are increasingly centred on skills in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data, cloud, and cybersecurity. Entry-level professionals with expertise in these areas are commanding higher salaries compared to traditional roles, which are gradually declining.
Despite the restructuring, TCS added over 2,300 employees in the last quarter, taking its total headcount to over 5,84,000. However, attrition remains elevated at 13.7 per cent, slightly above the company’s preferred range, reflecting ongoing shifts in the IT talent market.
