India’s largest information technology company Tata Consultancy Services has extended just 25,000 job offers to fresh graduates for the current financial year, a sharp pull-back from the 44,000 freshers it hired in FY26, with its chief executive signalling that any expansion in campus hiring will hinge entirely on how demand conditions evolve in the months ahead, PTI reported.
25,000 Offers Made, But the Door Is Not Closed At TCS
TCS Chief Executive and Managing Director K Krithivasan, speaking to PTI in an interview over the weekend, confirmed the numbers and offered a conditional path to more. “We have made 25,000 offers for freshers in FY27. Clarity on demand will lead to more hiring,” he said.
According to PTI, the company had hired 44,000 freshers in FY26, one of the highest intakes by any private sector employer in India that year, even as the broader technology sector navigated significant headwinds. For at least three consecutive fiscal years, TCS had consistently hired 40,000 or more fresh graduates annually, making the current year’s offer count a notable departure from that pattern.
Why Freshers Still Matter for TCS More Than Laterals
Asked whether TCS was shifting its hiring strategy toward lateral recruits — experienced professionals who can be deployed immediately — Krithivasan was unequivocal in his rebuttal, PTI reported. The company’s fundamental delivery model, he indicated, had not changed.
He acknowledged the operational reality that freshers require considerable investment before they contribute to live projects. It takes up to nine months of training before a fresher comes on the floor, while a lateral can deliver immediately, he explained, but added that business needs would ultimately influence hiring decisions across both categories. The emphasis on freshers, he made clear, remains a structural preference rather than an oversight.
On Restructuring within TCS: Performance Is the Benchmark
The question of whether TCS might undertake another round of workforce restructuring — following the widely reported layoff of at least 12,000 employees, predominantly senior-level staff, in FY26 — drew a carefully worded response, PTI reported. Krithivasan stopped short of ruling it out, saying instead that people can have “thriving careers” with the company till they perform well.
He was more forthcoming on the reasons behind last year’s departures, pushing back against the narrative that artificial intelligence had displaced workers. The ingress of AI technologies, he said, had nothing to do with the layoffs. The explanation he offered was structural: the style of executing projects had changed, and the senior layer was no longer required in the way it once had been.
Demand Pipeline “Stable” for TCS
On the broader business environment, Krithivasan characterised the project pipeline as “stable”, before quickly adding that “stable is good” — a qualifier that, according to PTI, appeared to carry implicit acknowledgement of the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop against which TCS is operating.
Beyond stability, however, the TCS CEO pointed to encouraging signals on the discretionary spending front, an area that has been subdued across the technology services sector for several quarters. He said new demand was emerging across segments and geographies, encompassing both cost optimisation mandates and larger transformation deals.
The company booked USD 40 billion in total contract value for FY26, PTI reported, with Krithivasan noting that the rate of conversion of new contracts into revenues had also improved, though he declined to share precise figures. Customers, he added, are committing higher proportions of work to TCS, driving a migration toward higher revenue brackets.
TCS Investments: Acquisitions, Partnerships and People
Krithivasan outlined three broad investment priorities guiding the company’s forward strategy, according to PTI. The first is acquisitions, with TCS continuing to scan for entities that would strengthen its capabilities. The second is partnerships, citing the recently announced collaboration with semiconductor giant AMD as an example of the direction the company is pursuing. The third, he said, is its own workforce.
On the financial side, Chief Financial Officer Samir Seksaria said the company would continue to pursue profit margin expansion through operational levers, with workforce utilisation — a metric that contributed meaningfully to margin performance in FY26 — remaining a key instrument in that effort.
TCS Q4 result sees Net Profit jumps 12% YoY
Tata Consultancy Services posted stronger-than-expected results for the fourth quarter of FY26, with revenue climbing 9.6% year-on-year to ₹70,698 crore and net profit rising 12% to ₹13,718 crore for the quarter ended March 2026.
The TCS board approved a final dividend of ₹31 per share, payable three days after the conclusion of the company’s 31st Annual General Meeting, subject to shareholder approval.
Headcount at the close of FY26 stood at 584,519, marginally up from 582,163 in the December quarter, while attrition edged higher to 13.7% from 13.5%, a rise of 20 basis points quarter-on-quarter, according to CNBC-TV18. The company confirmed that wage hikes had been implemented across all grades with effect from 1 April.
Investor Confidence and the Long Game
Addressing what PTI described as investor weariness with TCS stock, driven by perceptions around the company’s recent performance trajectory, Krithivasan offered reassurance rooted in a longer time horizon. The firm, he said, is investing for the future, and those investments would ultimately translate into growth — a message directed as much at the market as at the workforce navigating a period of deliberate, if cautious, recalibration.
