Tata Consultancy Services hits milestone: 600,000 employees globally

Global IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services has hit a major company milestone, with headcount exceeded 600,000 for the first time in its 54-year history. In 2022, the Indian-origin company aims at continuing this momentum.

A part of India’s largest multinational business group, the Tata group, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) generated consolidated revenues of $25.7 billion in its most recent fiscal year. The firm is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India, and has a presence in 50+ markets worldwide.

Building on double-digit revenue growth in the last 12 months, Tata Consultancy Services has had to up its headcount to accommodate the spike in demand. A global campaign of hires saw its international headcount now pass 600,000.

TCS initially started life as Tata Computer Systems, when it was founded in 1968 by a division of Tata Sons. In the last decade, the firm has grown its headcount exponentially – partially in response to booming demand for IT outsourcing work, which the firm specialises in. This has seen its headcount rise explode nearly five times over from its 2010 level of 160,000 staff.

With the bulk of its workforce based in India, TCS is one of the country’s largest private-sector employers. The company currently has offices spread across the country in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Baroda, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Goa, Gurugram, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Indore, Jamshedpur, Kalyan, Thane, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, New Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Noida, Nashik, Patna, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, and Varanasi.

Alongside IT outsourcing and managed services work, Tata Consultancy Services also has a consulting division, which provides high-end digital IT advisory and transformations services.

Looking ahead, Rajesh Gopinathan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of TCS, said that the firm aims to continue its growth trajectory, lifted by continued growing demand for digital transformation services and solutions.

While the company is not planning to hit the heights of recruitment that it saw in 2021 (plus nearly 100,000 recruits), TCS is aiming to add 40,000 staff this financial year. With a churn rate of between 15% and 20%, this would mean that TCS would end its financial year with an employee base of around 620,000.

In the IT services landscape, TCS is significantly larger than its main Indian-origin rivals. Infosys has a headcount of around 260,000 employees, while fellow Bangalore headquartered IT consultancy Wipro has around 232,000 and Pune based Tech Mahindra has around 142,000 members.

Beyond India’s industry giants, Accenture is the global leader with over 700,000 employees, while Capgemini has around 340,000 staff. Atos, CGI and DXC Technology have between 90,000 and 140,000 staff.

Clients of Tata Consultancy Services include General Motors, Cisco, and Thomson Reuters, among others.