TCS Layoffs: IT Major’s HR Head Says ‘Not Chasing A Target, Will Continue To…’

TCS Layoffs 2025.

TCS Layoffs: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has sought to clear the air around speculations of large-scale layoffs. Its HR head Sudeep Kunnumal says the company is “not chasing a target” when it comes to job cuts.

Speaking during the company’s Q2 earnings call, Kunnumal said the IT major continues to evaluate its workforce based on performance and redeployment opportunities, but without any predetermined target for reducing headcount.

“So almost — see, the 20,000 headcount is a factor of voluntary and involuntary attrition. So you should see that. But, as we announced, against the 2 percentage, we have midway, so we have done approximately 1 percentage of it. And, like what Krithi just mentioned, we don’t have a target,” Kunnumal said, responding to a question about whether the company will continue its current pace of headcount reduction.

He further added, “We are not chasing a target. We’ll continue to evaluate everyone after all the investment in learning and development that we’ve done…”

During the call, analyst Surendra Goyal from Citi had asked whether the current 1% reduction implied a similar trend in the next quarter. He also sought clarification on whether there would be further involuntary attrition.

To this, Kunnumal replied, “No, no, I didn’t say that. See, we estimate it to be 2%. We are currently at 1%, and we will continue to evaluate people whom we can redeploy — whom we are not redeploy, and those are the people that we will release.”

The TCS HR head also addressed queries about the recent changes to the US H-1B visa norms announced by the Trump administration. He said the company had already localized most of its US workforce and that only about 500 associates had traveled to the U.S. on H-1B visas.

“…on H1B, we have significantly localised our workforce in the US approximately just about 500 associates have travelled to the US on H1B. We believe our business model will be able to adapt quickly to any changes in immigration policy,” Kunnumal said.

The US government recently announced an annual fee of $100,000 on H-1B visa applications effective from September 21.

Separately, TCS has rolled out a wage hike covering over 80% of its workforce, effective from September 1, underscoring the company’s commitment to reward and retain talent even as it continues to rationalise roles.