TCS layoffs leave employees facing uncertainty and anxiety

A source close to the company however disputed this, stating that the vast number of layoffs quoted by the unions is “a narrative built to gain recognition. As at a company level, TCS wouldn’t be able to function with that massive level of employees being let go amid new deal wins.”

“These speculations are incorrect and misleading. As communicated earlier, the impact is limited to 2 percent of our workforce," a TCS spokesperson said in response to Moneycontrol's queries.

 A feeling of ‘betrayal’

Rohan (name changed), 35, who had spent the last 13 years at TCS after joining as a campus hire, said he was forced to resign following five months of “harassment” by the Human Resource (HR) and the Resource Management Group (RMG).

When he was asked to resign, he felt “betrayed by the Tata Group-company he had been loyal to for over a decade.” Though Rohan decided to not resign, he was later terminated by the IT firm in the mid of 2025.

He claimed that he was even asked to pay a recovery amount of Rs 6-8 lakhs for the time he was on bench. Only half of that amount could be adjusted from his gratuity and paid leaves, while the rest was settled by TCS, he told Moneycontrol.

Earlier, Rohan was a part of a 5-year project with a major automotive client. As that project had ramped down, he could only find a one-year project engagement. “On completion of that project, I had to struggle to find another project in this area as there was not much work or deals for TCS in this space. I had reached out to managers of other teams as well.”

He was on bench for a few months prior to being let go. During this period, he said, the HR and RMG would regularly call him for enquiries, once his access was also revoked.

“They started threatening me saying I was moonlighting for other companies, tried to put me on enquiry. This went on for months, the mental torture was nothing less than living in the hell,” he said.

As things stand, it’s been nearly four months as he continues to hunt for a new job in Pune, while staying at a friend’s place. “My family, wife and kids in my hometown are not aware of this. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them about it.”

In July, Krithivasan had told Moneycontrol that the layoffs would happen across mid and senior level associates in phases over FY26.

“We have invested a lot in associates in terms of how we can provide them with career growth and deployment opportunities. Still, we find that there are roles where redeployment has not been effective,” he had said, a similar situation to what Rohan faced as he tried to get a new project.

Chaos, fear linger in TCS offices 

Another employee who is still working with the company said that there’s an “environment of fear” in his office, as one never knows “who gets the call next".

“In my office, seniors are getting laid off, above 8-10 years of experience. There’s a lot of fear, confusion and chaos going on in the office right now…Employees are suddenly getting emails to meet the HR, and immediately asked to leave. Some are getting about a week’s notice period and others have to leave immediately,” he told Moneycontrol.

“Teams after teams are getting fully laid off. Some who are working even on the new technologies are getting impacted,” he added.

According to him, some of the “ongoing projects were impacted, clients are cost-cutting so now TCS requires fewer number of people on those projects and rest are getting laid off.”

Juniors continue to be allotted projects and are getting hired albeit at a slower pace, he said.

Moreover, some say that TCS has ramped up hiring this quarter. This implies that the number of employees terminated would not be reflected in the employee metrics for the second quarter ending September 30, 2025.

The Dreaded Fluidity List

Many affected employees told us that managers have a list with them, called the fluidity list, which has the names of people who would be laid off.

The fluidity list contains names which have nothing to do with the skills of employees or their years of experience. These are decided by account managers and are, sometimes, arbitrary in nature.

In July, when Moneycontrol exclusively reported the layoffs at TCS, the IT behemoth’s Chief Executive Officer had said the pink slips were because of limited opportunities to redeploy employees amid a skill gap.

“This (layoffs) is not because of AI giving some 20 percent productivity gains. We are not doing that. This is driven by where there is a skill mismatch, or, where we think that we have not been able to deploy someone,” he had told Moneycontrol.

However, current and former employees say otherwise.

“This list is not based on grades, ratings, or skills but depends on individual Delivery Managers (DMs) or senior managers naming people. Even employees with good ratings, in-demand skills, or employees who have cleared internal interviews are being included. Once a name is on the list, the employee is blocked from joining new projects even after clearing interviews,” Vijay (name changed) told Moneycontrol.

Many current and former employees alleged that personnel from the human resource department call employees within 30 days of being on the dreaded fluidity list, and give them two options: either resign voluntarily or face termination.

The bench/RMG HR allegedly sends back-channel emails to project managers, instructing them to drop profiles of people on the fluidity list.

Vijay also claims that TCS clients are given false reasons, for example, “employee is unwell” or “childcare issues,” when staff are actually being removed due to internal downsizing.

“People are not speaking up since they fear retaliation and cannot afford the cost of legal burden against the deep-pocketed company,” Vijay added.

Nevertheless, the above-mentioned source close to TCS said, “People are terming it a fluidity list, but it’s not an official term. Because TCS is a large organisation, it’s catching up.”

“This is pure 'mental harassment' and 'mockery of policies' rather than a normal performance-based exit process,” Vijay added further.

IT employee unions condemn the move

Several IT employee unions including Forum for IT Employees (FITE) and Union of IT & ITES Employees (UNITE) have raised concerns regarding the manner of these layoffs.

“We are seeing employees with over 30-year tenure with TCS being asked to quit within 30 mins. IT employees are being abused by the organisations,” said Prashant Pandit, Secretary, FITE.

Alagunambi Welkin, General Secretary of UNITE shared that employees even have been pre-dated to be benched despite being allocated on projects till end of September.

“These newly benched employees go through rounds of meetings – first one always telling them to find new projects. Then even if they end up finding projects, and get clearance on client rounds – their project deployment is cancelled by RMG and HR,” he said.

The next step, they get called to resign, citing various reasons.

“If employees get terminated, they don’t get any pay. On resigning, they get three months notice period, severance package depending on years of experience, which will amount to 15 days of salary multiplied by the number of years of experience,” Welkin said.

He added, “Beyond this employees could get career assessment, outplacement guidance and services. For insurance coverage, they are getting up to six months and the employee has to pay for it.”

TCS’ layoff plans, HR policy updates

“We have been calling out new technologies, particularly AI and operating model changes. The ways of working are changing. We need to be future-ready and agile. We have been deploying AI at scale and evaluating skills we will be requiring for the future,” Krithivasan had said, adding that the job cuts are not linked to AI.

In June, TCS had introduced a new policy, wherein employees will have to proactively approach the RMG to get assigned on projects to ensure that they have 225 days of billability over a 12 months period at any given point.

If the employee misses on the billability target, they will face disciplinary action including cessation of service, the policy said. Employees also cannot be on bench for more than 35 days a year.

To sum it up, the layoffs being executed at India's largest IT firm, which changed the narrative of the Tata Group company being a defacto stable “goverment-like” job, has been poorly. Many questions remain unanswered, and clarity is likely to emerge when the management speaks to the media on October 9, after declaring the quarterly results.