Released 1 pc or 6,000 people: TCS CHRO on layoffs; says numbers circulating very exaggerated

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) India's largest IT services company TCS on Thursday said it has "released" one per cent or 6,000 people from workforce as part of a restructuring exercise it had initiated, as CHRO Sudeep Kunnumal sought to dismiss the "extremely exaggerated numbers" that are in circulation and urging those figures be disregarded.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Chief HR Officer Kunnumal further said that the company is "not chasing a number".

Asked about the true scale of layoffs given widespread fears that numbers could be as high as over 50,000-80,000, Kunnumal asserted that "a lot of these numbers are not factual, are extremely exaggerated" and "should be disregarded".

Meanwhile in a statement, IT workers' union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) said TCS has officially reported a closing headcount of 593,314 employees in Q2 FY26, compared to 613,069 employees in Q1 FY26.

"This represents a net reduction of 19,755 employees in just one quarter," it said.

Kunnumal on Thursday said, "As we speak today, we are close to one per cent of people, that we have released in mid and senior level, whom we could not redeploy in the right role." Asked if one per cent translated into 6,000 people only, Kunnumal said, "yes, right at the mid and senior level segment".

He said, the company has hired 18,500 people in the just-ended quarter. All the offers that were made have been honoured, he emphasised.

"As an organissation, we will continue to honour all the offers," he said, adding the company is on track so far as onboarding campus offers go.

On whether TCS would go ahead with 40,000-plus hiring target for FY26 (as mentioned in July) or whether the number has been revised given the global market conditions, he said: "I don't want to give you a number...based on business demand, we will support and we will try to bring the best of the talent for our organisation to shape the journey." TCS wants to be the world's largest AI-led tech services company, he said.

In July this year, TCS had said it plans to lay off about two per cent, or 12,261 employees, of its global workforce this year, with the majority of those impacted belonging to middle and senior grades. The move, it had then said, is part of the company's broader strategy to become a "future-ready organisation", focusing on investments in technology, AI deployment, market expansion, and workforce realignment.

However, unions have disputed the reported layoff numbers and charged TCS of resorting to pressure tactics, alleging that it threatened to withhold salaries and benefits.

"What we had communicated when we initiated this exercise, is that we will do this with a lot of empathy and respect. And I want to say with conviction and confidence that we did that, we created dedicated teams to have extreme empathetic conversations, to be able to help them with that. We did some benchmark on severance packages for the people (who were affected)," he said.

Kunnumal said as the company steps into the current quarter, it will be paying a higher quarterly bonuses or variable elements compared to what was paid in previous quarters.

"Basically, it covers all the people who have been with our organisation, who are entitled for the quarterly bonus, except maybe for new joinees... but it covers practically every one... normally, at the junior level we have been paying 100 per cent, which is what will continue and for seniors, we will pay a higher amount, which is again based on the individual and unit performance," he said. PTI MBI HVA