TCS headcount falls by 19,755 in Q2; NITES says co downplaying large scale layoffs by under-reporting

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employee headcount fell by a massive nearly 20,000 in a single quarter, as India's largest IT services company continues to restructure workforce to align with changed business dynamics.

According to Q2 FY26 data on its website, the company's headcount has dropped to 5,93,314 in September quarter as compared to 6,13,069 in June quarter, even as IT workers' union NITES accused TCS of downplaying large scale layoffs through under-reporting.

Earlier on Thursday TCS CHRO Sudeep Kunnumal said that the company laid off about one per cent or 6,000 employees as part of a recent restructuring - a figure IT workers' union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) strongly contested, citing a net workforce reduction of 19,755 in a single quarter.

While TCS' BSE filing on Q2 FY26 earnings immediately after market hours omitted the details of total headcount and attrition figures (a metrics that is a standard part of the earnings docket), the factsheet uploaded on its website later showed a closing headcount of 5,93,314 employees in Q2 FY26.

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 to force employees to resign.

During an investor call, TCS said it has "released" one per cent of workforce, mainly mid and senior level, with skills and capabilities mismatched.

"We are providing the impacted employees with benefits, counselling and outplacement support for their transition as well as severance at terms higher than industry standards." Kunnumalm, however, admitted, "Additionally, there has been involuntary attrition as part of our regular ongoing efforts pertaining to performance and bench policies. With the new hires, the release of attrition voluntary and involuntary...global workforce close for Q2 stands at 593,314." Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) cried foul, saying the company's own fact sheets publicly available and filed as part of its financial disclosures "expose the truth".

"This is not a minor difference. Nearly 8,000 employees, more than what TCS admitted, have disappeared from the rolls. For a company of TCS' scale, such underreporting cannot be dismissed as an error. It points to a deliberate attempt to downplay the scale of retrenchments and mislead regulators, policymakers, and the public," NITES said.

The reduction is also deeply alarming given that the attrition has actually fallen, NITES said, adding this means these exits were not voluntary but management-driven.

"TCS has continued to grow revenue during the same period, proving that business performance cannot be used as a justification for such drastic cuts. TCS may present these job cuts as numbers on a balance sheet, but for us they are stories of shattered lives," NITES said.

NITES alleged that employees who gave 10–15 years of loyalty are being cornered, threatened, and discarded overnight.

"This is not restructuring, this is corporate cruelty. TCS has chosen profits over people, turning its workplace into a fear factory and betraying the very workforce that built its empire," Harpreet Singh Saluja President of NITES said in a statement. PTI MBI HVA