TCS makes 25k fresher offers; AI push on track

BENGALURU: Even as TCS saw its headcount fall by nearly 24,000 in FY26, CHRO Sudeep Kunnumal said the entire decline cannot be attributed to last year's restructuring. He added that the company has already made 25,000 campus offers and remains on track to hire around 40,000 freshers annually. "Last year, we onboarded 44,000 trainees. We have already made 25,000 campus offers in India and will continue to be among the largest recruiters across universities and the market," he told TOI.

TCS's headcount declined by 23,460 in FY26 to 5,84,519 employees, though it rose by 2,356 in the March quarter. Kunnumal said hiring will remain aligned with business demand, alongside continued investments in capability building, with learning intensity rising 25% year-on-year. "At the same time, we are hiring externally for niche, future-ready skills in areas such as AI, advisory and consulting," he added.

He said the restructuring exercise has been completed and accounted for a substantially smaller portion of the decline-far below the 2% initially announced. The reduction was also driven by efficiency gains, productivity improvements, and selective role replacements amid voluntary attrition.

Last year, the company announced it would cut around 2% of its workforce-over 12,000 employees-primarily at mid- and senior levels. Its COO Aarthi Subramanian clarified that the restructuring was not driven by AI, but by the need to build a future-ready workforce. Despite fewer additions, TCS's wage bill rose by Rs 10,000 crore in FY26, driven by higher bonuses, variable payouts, salary hikes, and about Rs 2,100 crore in labour code-related provisions.

TCS reported a 2.4% decline in constant-currency revenue in FY26-the first such dip in its listed history-while dollar revenue fell 0.5% to $30 billion.

In the March quarter, revenue grew 1.2% sequentially in constant currency but declined 0.6% year-on-year. However, nearly $30 million in incremental revenue came from related party transactions involving Tata Steel, JLR and M&A including CoastalCloud and Listengage.

Subramanian said FY26 marked a turning point for enterprise AI adoption, with annualised AI revenue rising to $2.3 billion from $1.8 billion in the Dec quarter, driven by demand across transformation, engineering and cloud modernisation. "In 2023 and 2024, enterprises were largely experimenting with AI through pilots and proofs of concept. FY26 marks a shift towards scaled deployments. What we are seeing now is the transition from pilots to full-scale projects. This is driving incremental revenue growth quarter after quarter. We classify AI revenues clearly as AI transformation-led and do not include AI embedded within other services like software engineering," she said.

Subramanian added that the company's AI strategy is centred on building a full-stack "infrastructure-to-intelligence" play. Investments such as Hypervault are strengthening its position in the infrastructure layer, alongside partnerships with OpenAI and broader ecosystem collaborations. Last year, TCS secured $1 billion from private equity firm TPG to advance its AI data centre strategy, with OpenAI set to be the first customer of its Hypervault business, starting with 100 MW capacity and scaling to 1 GW over time.

TCS is also reshaping its go-to-market approach in the AI era. "We are conducting AI immersion sessions with CXOs to help them understand how AI can drive transformation. This shift is helping bridge the gap between rapid technology evolution and enterprise adoption."