At a time when anxiety around AI is already running high in India’s IT sector, the country’s largest software services company is asking its employees to do something that sounds almost counter-intuitive – use AI as aggressively as possible, even if it means charging clients less and hurting the company’s own revenue in the short term.
That message came directly from Tata Consultancy Services CEO K Krithivasan, who spoke openly about the company’s AI strategy at the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum in Mumbai on Wednesday. His remarks come against the backdrop of job cuts, falling IT stocks and growing fear that automation could upend a business built on large teams and long billing cycles.
According to Reuters, Krithivasan told the audience that TCS is actively asking its employees to use AI tools wherever they can to finish work faster and at lower cost. More strikingly, he said staff should be upfront with customers about these gains, even if it reduces billing.
“We are telling associates that if you find that you can do something faster, better, cheaper with AI, you should probably go and tell your customers, even if it cannibalises revenue,” he said.
The timing of this push has caught the attention of both investors and employees. Over the past month, worries about how AI could change the Indian IT model have weighed heavily on stock prices. According to market data, about $68.6 billion in value has been erased from Indian IT companies in February alone as investors try to make sense of what comes next.
The sell-off has been sharp. The Nifty IT index is down 21 per cent so far this month, heading towards its worst monthly showing in nearly 23 years. Much of that pressure comes from the fear that AI-driven efficiency will mean fewer people are needed to deliver the same amount of work.
Those fears have been fuelled by developments inside TCS itself. In October 2025, reports showed that the company’s employee count fell by nearly 20,000 during the June to September quarter of the 2025–26 financial year, at a time when it was reorganising teams and increasing focus on AI-led delivery.
Company data shows that TCS’ workforce dropped by 19,755 employees in the second quarter of FY26, bringing total headcount down to 593,314 from 613,069 at the end of the previous quarter. For many in the industry, the number stood out as a reminder that change is already underway.
TCS, however, has played down the idea that the decline points to mass job losses driven purely by automation. Its investor presentation shows that voluntary attrition improved during the same period. Attrition eased by 50 basis points to 13.3 per cent in the second quarter of FY26, compared with 13.8% in the previous quarter.
Clarifying the situation, TCS Chief Human Resources Officer Sudeep Kunnumal said the reduction was not the result of a single factor. “The 20,000 headcount (reduction) is a factor of voluntary and involuntary attrition,” he said.
Krithivasan, for his part, struck a reassuring tone while speaking about AI’s long-term impact on jobs. He argued that the technology should not be seen as a threat to livelihoods, but as a tool that can create new opportunities if used well. “We are not afraid this technology will take away our livelihood. We believe it is going to open up more, so you enjoy the benefits the more you do, and not by resisting the change,” he said.
