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Panic and uncertainty have gripped employees at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) amid a wave of layoffs and forced resignations. Nearly two months after the company confirmed it would cut around 2% of its global workforce, estimated at over 12,000 employees, the impact has spread across multiple teams, including those working on new technologies.
Several employees allege that the scale of the layoffs is larger than what has been officially disclosed. Reports imply that various employee resignations occurred, whether through coercion or months of pressure from HR and RMG.
A mid-career employee who worked at TCS for 13 years recalls being on the bench for months after his project ended. He recalls HR harassing him for alleged “moonlighting” and several threats before he was terminated in mid-2025.
He said he was asked to pay a recovery fee of Rs. 6-Rs. 8 lakh for his bench period, part of which was deducted from his gratuity. Currently unemployed, he admitted to hiding his situation from his family.
Current staff members describe an “environment of fear” inside offices, where employees with 8-10 years of experience are suddenly called in for HR meetings and asked to resign or leave immediately. Some report suggests that even in high-demand technology sectors, entire teams were dismantled due to client cost pressure.
An internal "fluidity list" has supposedly been circulated, listing employees who are at risk of termination. Those placed on the list are reportedly contacted within 30 days and given a choice: resign voluntarily or face dismissal.
While TCS maintains the layoffs are part of a strategy to become a “future-ready organisation” through workforce restructuring and investments in AI, employee unions argue that the real numbers are far higher.
The Forum for IT Employees (FITE), Union of IT & ITES Employees (UNITE), and other unions claim that more than 30,000 workers may have been forced out since June, a figure TCS disputes. Some social media posts even suggest the number could be as high as 80,000, though these claims remain unverified.
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TCS has argued that the layoffs were necessary to meet changing client demand, AI adoption, and automation, yet the manner they laid people off, through forced resignation and sudden departures, and by not informing employees whether they would be receiving severance pay, led to organized protests in major Indian IT hubs.
TCS is India's largest IT employer, and its actions are being closely watched. This has raised difficult questions about job security in an industry with rapid technological advancement, collapsing client budgets, and rising automation.
