TCS misses labour meeting on layoffs, defers onboarding 'temporarily', alleges NITES

The IT union body, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), has alleged that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) skipped a meeting scheduled to take place at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner in New Delhi on Friday, regarding the company's recent layoff stance.

NITES had raised a formal complaint with the labour ministry this week, urging the government to frame strict policies against software services companies for jeopardizing the future of thousands of employees under the guise of "AI transition" or "workforce realignment."

NITES claimed that while TCS shared an email response, it failed to send a company representative to their Friday meeting.

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According to NITES, TCS has temporarily halted onboarding due to prevailing global market conditions. The company allegedly stated that "deferments are a common industry practice, depending on project timelines".

Earlier this week, outrage erupted in the IT sector after TCS announced plans to cut 2% of its workforce-- around 12,000 employees globally--citing 'skill-mismatch'.

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Following TCS Chief Executive Officer K Kirthivasan's remark, NITES wrote to the Ministry of Labour & Employment, "TCS has planned to terminate thousands of employees without giving them due notice or any prior intimation to the government, all of which are mandatory under existing Indian labour laws".

It said that the company's decision impacts the employees emotionally, psychologically and financially as it would impact mid and senior-level employees who have a lot of commitment at this age.

"This is not restructuring. This is a mass sacking dressed in corporate jargon," NITES added, "It will set a dangerous precedent for other companies, by normalizing job insecurity, erode employee rights, and severely damaging trust in India’s employment ecosystem".

Meanwhile, experts have said that TCS's decision is expected to reshape hiring trends in the IT sector.

Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital, stated that the era of "scale-based" hiring in the IT industry is coming to an end. "Companies will prioritise a 'skill-first' approach and move towards leaner organizational structures," she said.

Meanwhile, TCS peer Infosys has struck a completely different tone on this matter. CEO Salil Parekh said they have planned to recruit 20,000 graduates this year.

The IT Services cohort has clocked a little under 3.5 lakh net headcount additions to move from 22 lakh to 25.5 lakh headcount since FY2022, according to Kamal Karanth, Co-founder, Xpheno - a specialist staffing firm. In contrast, the top four firms — TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCLTech — have collectively reduced their headcount by over 42,000 employees in the past two years.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech headcount reduces by over 42,000 in two years

Moreover, IT firms have scaled down broad-based training budgets and shifted focus on learning in GenAI, cloud, data engineering, and cybersecurity to control cost. The firms curtailed spending on classroom-based and non-core training and travel-related programs.

TCS slashed travel and facility cost expenses by 7% to Rs 30,481 crore in FY25. Wipro reported a 17.8% reduction in other expenses, down to Rs 2,452 crore in FY25.