Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the largest Information Technology (IT) services company in India in terms of revenue, said that it would postpone employee pay raises beginning in April, citing the current tariff war between the US and other nations as well as the growing financial uncertainties.
At a press conference on Thursday, April 10, the company executives stated that the hikes will be implemented later in the fiscal year, once there is better clarity and improved outlook.
“We will decide during the year when to make the wage hike,” stated TCS Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad.
The action is reminiscent of a similar decision taken five years ago at the start of the pandemic, when the global business had come to a complete halt.
This reflects the broader wave of caution sweeping through the IT sector, as companies reassess spending priorities. Infosys and Wipro, which are expected to share Q4 earnings next week, might take aligned steps.
TCS will continue to pay out quarterly variable payouts while salary increases are paused. As many as 70% of workers will get 100% of their variable pay in Q4, with the remaining portion being determined by business performance.
Discretionary spending is still limited. Project ramp-ups and spending have been delayed for the company over the past month as clients await tariff clarification.
CEO and Managing Director K Krithivasan stated, "If this keeps up, there will be delays in discretionary spending."
In 2025–2026, TCS intends to hire around 42,000 engineers from campuses, which is about the same amount as the number it committed to and onboarded in 2024–2025 (FY25). The company hired 625 people in Q4, which concluded on March 31. The headcount increased by 6,433 for the entire year, reversing a decline of 13,249 from the previous year.
In Q4FY25, attrition increased a little from 13% in the prior quarter to 13.3%. As of March, TCS employed 607,979 people.
Two senior executives join leadership team
Almost a year after N G Subramaniam retired, TCS has appointed a new chief operating officer (COO). Starting on May 1, Aarthi Subramanian, who was previously Tata Sons' Chief Digital Officer, will assume the roles of COO, Executive Director, and President of TCS for a five-year period.
Subramanian oversaw the group's innovation, technology, and digital initiatives across a wide range of projects within Tata Sons.
Mangesh Sathe was also named chief strategy officer at TCS. Sathe, a former CEO of Tata Sons' Tata Strategic Management Group, will head the global consulting practice and oversee mergers and acquisitions. Krithivasan will receive reports from both executives.
TCS CEO K Krithivasan noted that the recent moves are aligned with the company’s long-term strategic goals. “This is part of our broader strategic exercise,” Krithivasan said and added, “As we see major shifts in technology, there are several areas where we need to build talent and partnerships. In some of these, we can’t rely solely on homegrown talent. To expand and maintain leadership in these areas, we wanted to increase our bandwidth.”
