Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has completed its workforce restructuring exercise, resulting in around 8,000 job reductions, which is nearly 25% lower than its earlier estimate of 12,000 cuts.
The company had announced the restructuring in July 2025 as part of its plan to become a more future-ready organisation. At the time, it said around 2% of its global workforce—mainly from middle and senior levels—could be impacted, depending on deployment feasibility. TCS had a workforce of just over 600,000 employees when the process began.
The restructuring has cost the company about ₹1,388 crore in FY26 and was completed in the third quarter. While 6,000 employees were impacted in Q2FY25, the remaining reductions were carried out in Q3. The company maintained that the exercise also involved reskilling efforts, and only employees who could not be redeployed in the new structure were let go.
Alongside this, TCS is shifting its hiring model from a bench-based approach to a demand-driven system. This means hiring will now depend more on client requirements rather than maintaining large idle workforce capacity. The change is also expected to influence campus recruitment plans.
In FY26, TCS hired 44,000 freshers and currently has visibility for around 25,000 additional hires. As IT delivery models increasingly focus on productivity and outcomes instead of headcount, utilisation levels across the industry have risen significantly, reducing the size of traditional bench strength.
While TCS does not officially disclose utilisation rates, industry estimates suggest it now operates in the 80–88% range, compared to the earlier 60–70% levels considered normal in the sector.
Experts note that IT firms now maintain very lean benches, with increasing demand for skills in artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud, data, and cybersecurity. As a result, traditional roles such as L1 support and testing are shrinking, while AI-related roles are expanding rapidly.
Freshers with AI skills are also earning higher salaries, typically in the range of ₹6–12 lakh per year, which is about 25–30% higher than standard entry-level packages.
In the latest quarter, TCS added 2,356 employees, taking its total headcount to 584,519. However, attrition also remained elevated at 13.7%, slightly above the company’s comfort range of 10–12%, though management attributed this to broader industry trends.
Much of the recent hiring was driven by replacement needs due to voluntary exits, along with onboarding of trainees, who formed a significant portion of new recruits.
