TCS challenge: Filling a $450mn order void

Changes at Deutsche Bank, Nielsen, Transamerica may hit TCS

- Varun Sood

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd boss K. Krithivasan is battling a new problem that is not the company's making: Making up for a nearly $450 million loss in annual business.

Earlier this week, Deutsche Bank announced that it will shut almost half of the 550 branches of Postbank over the next two years as Germany's biggest bank sees more customers prefer online banking than walking into a branch.

It was only in November 2020 that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) bought Postbank Systems AG, the IT firm of Postbank, as the Mumbai-based technology services firm looked at doing more business with its German client.

The 1,500 engineers of Postbank Systems, which joined TCS, manage its entire technology needs, from writing code to developing and maintaining apps.

Postbank Services, rebranded as TCS Technology Solutions AG, ended with $220 million in revenue in 2022, according to the unit's financials. As much as 80% of this revenue, or $180 million, came from Postbank.

The closure of 250 Postbank Branches and the subsequent tech work implies that TCS stares at annual business dropping to $130 million by 2025, according to an executive privy to the development. That is a $60 million loss.

An email sent to spokespeople for TCS and Deutsche Bank on Wednesday seeking comment went unanswered.