TCS not worried about H-1B visas, over 50% of US workforce local, says CEO K Krithivasan

Tata Consultancy Services CEO and MD K Krithivasan.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief executive officer and managing director K Krithivasan said that the IT services behemoth is “not worried” about the ongoing discourse within incoming Trump administration in the US over H-1B visas.

He added that more than half of its workforce in the US are locals, a region that contributes nearly 50 percent to TCS’ revenue.

As chatter within the US administration regarding parameters assessing H-1B visa eligibility is intensifying ahead of Trump’s swearing in on January 20, Krithivasan told Moneycontrol, “We are not very worried. We have been less and less dependent on H-1 visas over the years. If you look at our US workforce, it's more than 50 percent local.”

“On any given year, we get about between 3000 to 4000 H-1B visas. In our overall scheme of things, it's a small number. If there is a decrease in H-1B, we can compensate with other means, or we can move the work to India. So our dependence on H-1B is not very high.”

TCS' headcount at the end of the December quarter was 6,07,354.

H-1B visas are a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and IT. IT companies such as TCS, Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro send their employees to the US on these visas.

Indian IT services giants including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech America and Tech Mahindra  accounted for nearly 20 percent of H-1B visas approved in 2024 in the sponsorship space, according to data sourced from staffing firm TeamLease Digital.

Client budgets 

Krithivasan said customers are bullish on Trump administration’s policies, which are expect to accelerate the US economy. This would, in turn, help in discretionary spending recovery in the region across key sectors including BFSI, healthcare and consumer business.

“Our customers are positive at this time. I don't think they believe that the end result of the policies, or at least the objectives of the policies, would not be to grind it further down. There will be always an interest to how do you enhance and accelerate it further,” he said.

“Given that broad sentiment, one or two industry verticals, particularly life sciences and healthcare, are waiting to see what kind of policies come in, in terms of insurance, and medicare. But industries like banking and retail are seeing a better consumer confidence at this time. And so their current position is to enhance the discretionary spend.”

Also read: Shorter deal closure cycles, pick up in discretionary spend: Why TCS CEO is bullish on 2025