At a time when white collar jobs face the risk of being taken over by AI, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. is going against the tide to amp up recruitments.
The software services giant's headcount in the June quarter rose by over 9,000 employees to 5,93,798 from 5,84,519 in the March quarter of last fiscal. Additionally, the company onboarded 14,000 campus graduates in the quarter under review.
TCS' CEO and Managing Director K Krithivasan defended the strong hiring wave, outlining that they do not completely agree with the view that AI will reduce white collar jobs.
"We first of all do not believe that there would be a drastic reduction in white collar jobs," he said. The management argued that as technology evolves, roles in the company will also transform and new opportunities will arise.
Notably, even as the management dispelled fears regarding artificial intelligence replacing software developers and similar roles, the recent recruitment centres around AI-native talent.
"Our campus hiring continues to focus on digital and AI-native talent supported by reimagined Initial Learning program. And stronger AI centric curriculum," said Sudeep Kunnumal, the CHRO.
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He highlighted that the firm's lateral hiring is focused on domain specific and AI-native talent, with over 50% of the lateral hires having next generation skills. The share, he underscored, is expected to grow.
However, the hiring trend is a drastic shift from last year's sentiment of "honouring" every role and adapting as per the demand outlook. Recruitment was also relatively softer in the year-ago period as TCS made 5,000 net additions.
"We have honoured all the job offers and will do so for the rest of the year. Better hiring will be recalibrated based on the demand outlook," former Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad had said while speaking during the post-earnings conference call in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.
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Job security for conventional white collar roles remains clouded despite the management's reassurance. While reiterating the company's disbelief in a looming AI threat, Chief Financial Officer Samir Seksaria explained how roles will evolve as per technology.
"People would be doing different things, right? Currently, if they are doing software engineering and coding there could be no new more skill sets required in terms of prompt engineering. People will be training models, testing models and lifecycle management. So many other new opportunities would come up," he said.
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