'Never Saw AI As A Headwind...': TCS Hails 2025 As Transformative Year For Artificial Intelligence

At a time when Indian IT companies are rapidly pivoting to artificial intelligence, Tata Consultancy Services' top management says 2025 was the definitive year for AI in the industry, with the Indian IT major notably reporting a surge in its AI-focused annualised revenue to $1.8 billion.

Speaking to NDTV Profit, TCS President and COO Aarthi Subramanian highlighted this rapid acceleration in AI demand, pointing out that experimentation phase of 2023 and 2024 has paved the way for the tangible deployment of AI.

"When we were at the analyst day, we reported annualized revenues of $1.5 billion, and this quarter it is $1.8 billion annualised," Subramanian said. "I think 2025 saw real adoption happening. AI projects getting into production and value coming out of it."

While Indian markets have lagged behind when it comes to AI deployment and trade, the tide has been turning, with NDTV Profit reporting on Jan. 1 that more and more Indian companies are trying to sell AI.

Talking about how AI is perceived within TCS, CEO K Krithivasan said, "We never looked at AI as a headwind at all."

Krithivasan noted that the nature of client spending has evolved toward "short turnaround projects" where AI infusion offers immediate returns on investment.

Subramanian, meanwhile, stated that client conversations are now separated into two treams.

The first stream is 'getting ready for AI', which involves foundation spending on cloud, data and cybersecurity while the second stream is 'leading with AI', where companies invest to create specific business differentiation.

"Our customer conversations are about: How do I identify high-impact AI projects?" Subramanian told NDTV Profit. She added that clients are increasingly focused on speed. "How do you build rapidly with AI? ... The number of projects that we have delivered using rapid build methodology has increased significantly this quarter."

To meet this demand, TCS has also aggressively retooled its workforce.

"Last year when we ended the year, we had 80,000 people internally who possessed higher-order AI skills," she said. "That number is 217,000 this quarter," Subramanian said.