Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's leading IT services firm, has officially addressed recent rumors regarding mass layoffs.
Chief Human Resources Officer Sudeep Kunnumal clarified that the company has ‘released’ approximately 6,000 employees, about 1% of its global workforce, as part of a strategic restructuring initiative.
He emphasized that circulating figures suggesting layoffs of 50,000 to 80,000 employees are ‘extremely exaggerated’ and should be disregarded.
The statement of clarification follows TCS's announcement of its quarterly results report, during which Kunnumal answered queries regarding the company's workforce reorganization.
The company is not focused on a specific headcount reduction target. Restructuring, as part of the company's continuous and frequent efforts to realign resources according to changing business needs, has been mentioned by him.
The latest workforce cut has been linked to several reasons, including performance-based exits, policy revisions for new hires, and the company's Plan A to focus more on artificial intelligence, data analytics, and cybersecurity.
In the September quarter of 2025, TCS's employee count fell by almost 20,000, the highest quarterly drop in its history. This reduced the company's workforce to 590,000.
As a consequence of the restructuring, TCS has implemented a tiered severance plan targeting about 12,000 employees, primarily mid-level and senior executives.
The severance packages are from six months' salary to two years' salary, depending on the length of service, with the addition of support such as outplacement services and mental health counseling through the ‘TCS Cares’ program.
Some labor associations, like the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), have voiced their concerns about the number and the legality of the layoffs.
TCS is firm with its assertion that it follows labor laws and its actions are justifiable to keep pace with the changing technology field.
In short, TCS's HR head has responded to the speculation regarding the company's layoffs by clarifying the actual number of employees affected and the reasons for the restructuring. The company is still facing
technological changes and market fluctuations, but at the same time, it is providing support to its affected employees.