MeitY monitoring TCS layoffs, urges industry-academia focus on re-skilling

On July 27, Monyecontrol reported that IT giant TCS will be letting go of 2 per cent of its workforce

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is keeping a close eye on the developments surrounding IT giant Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) decision to lay off around 2 percent of its workforce, sources in the government told Moneycontrol.

The government, in the days to come, expects the industry and academia to address issues related to skilling and re-skilling.

On July 27, Moneycontrol exclusively reported how TCS  was letting go 2 percent of its employees, or roughly 12,000 employees in a bid to become more agile and future-ready.

"Industry and academia will also have to address skilling and re-skilling related issues. We are keeping a close eye on all of this," the source told this website.

The IT giant's move comes amid rapid disruptions in technology. However, the firm's CEO K Krithivasan told Moneycontrol that the move was not a fallout of the adoption of artificial intelligence, but to address skills for the future.

"We are in regular touch with industry on the trends particularly in employment. Government has already launched the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme. We expect the electronics and IT industry also to benefit," the source said.

On July 1, the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 99,446 crore Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme aimed at accelerating job creation with a special emphasis on manufacturing. It seeks to create over 3.5 crore new jobs over a two-year period.

Under the scheme, first-time employees will be eligible for a one-time wage support of up to Rs 15,000. Employers, in turn, will receive incentives for creating new jobs over a two-year period.

Krithivasan, in an exclusive interview to Moneycontrol said, “No, this 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.”

The job cuts will impact middle and senior level employees the most apart from some of the entry level associates who have been on the bench for a long time.