At the 31st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), chairman N Chandrasekaran unequivocally stated that India's largest software company has no plans for layoffs. He emphasized that the company will persist in its hiring efforts, although the era of large-scale campus recruitment may be drawing to a close.
No Downsizing, Only Right Talent
"There is no downsizing of staff. That is not planned at all. We just want to have the right talent. We want to use the agents. And we need to attract the best talent, the rate of addition of employees will not be as it used to be. If the HR department of the company had a metric on their ability to hire a large number of talent, that metric will go away," Chandrasekaran added. TCS's overall headcount dropped by 23,460 to 5.84 lakh employees in FY2026.
AI: The Biggest Opportunity
Chandrasekaran further emphasized that artificial intelligence (AI) is not a threat to software companies but rather one of the most significant opportunities. Calling AI the "biggest opportunity TCS has had so far," he highlighted the financial scale of the technology. He said that TCS is investing in building AI agents for internal operations, solution frameworks, and client-specific work. The company's employees and AI agents will collaborate, shaping the future of the industry.
Chandrasekaran noted that the AI world will generate "so much more opportunities" requiring new talent. He revealed that the company's AI revenues reached nearly $2.5 billion on an annualized basis in the last quarter and predicted that by 2028 to 2030, 100% of the company's revenue will have an AI component.
India's IT Industry Achievements
Chandrasekaran remarked that India's technology industry built its global position by doing something many thought impossible: taking powerful new technologies and making them work reliably and accountably inside the world's most demanding institutions. Some argue that AI poses a fundamental threat to that model. "I see it differently: far from being a mortal threat, AI is the most significant opportunity yet for enterprise IT," he said.
AI and the Future of IT Services
"In late 2024, Agentic AI systems began to look genuinely ready for enterprise workflows - writing code, testing software, running technology operations. A serious question crystallised: if AI can do this work, what happens to an industry built around doing it? India's Nifty IT index fell more than a third. Globally, shares in all technology services and platform companies plummeted. And yet, margins have held. Revenues are up. The deal pipeline is stronger than ever. The business fundamentals have held. So, what is going on? I believe the disparity stems from a misconception surrounding the relationship between AI and IT services," Chandrasekaran explained.
"AI tools reduce the need for human input in the building and maintenance of software. However, AI does more than reduce effort. It is not merely a technology. It is infrastructure - an infrastructure of intelligence," he added.
