Vulnerable Techies: On TCS “Layoffs To Continue” Announcement
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) recently signalled that the layoff trend may continue into the first quarter of 2026 if business conditions call for it.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has long been seen as a steady ground in the Indian IT world as a place where careers were built over decades, not just months. That perception is now slipping. Over the past six months, TCS’s workforce has shrunk by around 30,000 people through a combination of exits, restructuring and non-replacement of vacancies across quarters. In the latest results for Q3 FY26, headcount fell by more than 11,000, taking the total below 5.83 lakh employees. And the company has signaled that this trend may continue into the first quarter of 2026 if business conditions call for it.
Behind these figures are real careers, routines, families and plans. People enter IT with the hope of stability, skill development and a predictable trajectory. When restructuring becomes the norm and layoffs are discussed as part of “future readiness,” that promise feels less reliable.
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Part of the explanation offered by companies like TCS has been about aligning skills with shifting market demands, especially with AI and automation influencing how work gets done. Some of the reduction also reflects attrition where employees left on their own, and slower hiring. But for many workers it has felt less like a market adjustment and more like uncertainty creeping in.
For a sector that has been a major employer of fresh graduates and mid-career talent alike, the ongoing layoffs raise deeper questions. Is the workforce being prepared for the future, or being squeezed by it? Are organisations investing as much in people as they are in technology and automation? These are not abstract queries — they matter in halls of hostels and homes where futures are being planned.
TCS may emphasise that exits are not driven by fixed targets, and that they are handled through internal processes. But experience, aspiration and livelihood do not show up on balance sheets. When workforce reductions become continuous rather than occasional, confidence erodes. TCS should put brains on reconsideration such policies. Social resposibility isn’t limited to charity. When a few corporate policies decide the fate of millions of families, conscience must come into action.
References:
https://www.gulte.com/trends/391495/tcs-continues-layoffs-india-it-in-shambles
