TCS to lay off over 12K globally amid AI push

Indian IT major's move to affect mid, senior roles in FY26

- AVIK DAS & SHIVANI SHINDE

India's largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Sunday said it would lay off about 2 per cent, or about 12,260 employees, of its global workforce of 613,069 this financial year, as it seeks to become a more agile organisation in an era of artificial intelligence (AI)-led business transformation.

This is the second major layoff in the company's history, the previous one being in 2012, when around 2,500 employees were let go for underperformance.

The latest announcement shows the extent of challenges faced by Indian IT services firms amid a sluggish global economy, geopolitical tensions, tariff concerns, and a slowdown in North America, their perennially biggest market.

In a statement, the IT services major said: "TCS is on a journey to become a future-ready organisation. This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts, including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure and realigning our workforce model."