TCS order book stood at $9.5 billion while its annualised AI revenue rose to more than $2.6 billion. File picture
| Photo Credit: Reuters

TCS will equip 50,000 associates across engineering, finance, legal, marketing, and sales with Claude through enterprise-wide licensing. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Shares of TCS settled at ₹3,061.95 apiece on the BSE on Thursday (October 9, 2025), 1.16% higher than the previous close.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu holding a meeting with Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran at Secretariat on Monday.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that TCS will establish its office in Visakhapatnam soon and generate at least 10,000 jobs.

Mr. Chandrababu Naidu held a meeting on Monday with with executive chairman of Tata Sons N. Chandrasekaran to explore new growth avenues between the State and the Tata Group. Reflecting on the legacy of the late Ratan Tata, Mr. Naidu noted: “Mr. Tata’s contributions have deeply impacted our State’s growth and India’s industrial landscape.”

During the meeting, Mr. Naidu highlighted Tata Group’s ongoing influence in Andhra Pradesh’s progress and discussed potential collaborations with Mr. Chandrasekaran. Key projects were reviewed, including TCS’s plans to establish a new IT development centre in Visakhapatnam, expected to generate up to 10,000 jobs.

For tourism and industrial expansion, Tata-owned Indian Hotels is exploring 20 new hotels statewide, including Taj, Vivanta, Gateway, SeleQtions and Ginger brands, as well as a convention centre. Additionally, Tata Power is considering an investment of ₹40,000 crore to develop over 5 GW in solar and wind projects.

Exploring healthcare innovation, Tata and the government discussed potential deep tech and AI collaborations, aimed at enhancing primary healthcare services. Furthermore, the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub will support entrepreneurship across Andhra Pradesh, aligning with the state’s vision for “One Family, One Entrepreneur.”

These projects are poised to significantly boost Andhra Pradesh’s economic landscape and create substantial opportunities for its citizens.

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty settled lower for the sixth straight session on Monday (October 7, 2024) due to heavy selling in bellwether stocks including HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries amid mixed trends in the global markets and outflow of foreign funds.

Falling for the sixth consecutive session, the BSE Sensex tumbled 638.45 points or 0.78% to settle at 81,050. During the day, it plummeted 962.39 points or 1.17% to 80,726.06.

The NSE Nifty slumped 218.85 points or 0.87% to end at 24,795.75.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, NTPC, State Bank of India, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Titan and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.

Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra defied the trend.

“The Indian markets have entered a consolidation phase with high risk of underperforming to Asian peers. This phase is marked by significant corrections in the broader market due to premium valuations. There is notable global arbitrage activity, with Chinese markets attracting substantial inflows driven by its attractive valuations and stimulus measures,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude surged 2.09% to $79.68 a barrel.

European markets were trading on a mixed note on Monday (October 7, 2024).

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul settled higher.

Wall Street ended with gains on Friday (October 4, 2024).

Investors are reassessing their portfolio positions and FIIs outflows are exacerbated. Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, the surging oil prices pose a further challenge to the domestic economy in the short term, Mr. Nair added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹9,896.95 crore on Friday (October 4, 2024), while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹8,905.08 crore, according to exchange data.

On Friday (October 4, 2024), the BSE Sensex tumbled 808.65 points to settle at a three-week low of 81,688.45, while NSE Nifty slumped 235.50 points to 25,014.60.

Last week, the BSE Sensex tanked 3,883.4 points, or 4.53%, and the Nifty slumped 1,164.35 points or 4.44%.

Milind Lakkad, EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Tata Consultancy Services. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT services exporter, has reached pre-pandemic levels on the percentage of employees working from offices, a top official has said.

Admitting that it took longer than expected, the Tata Group company’s chief of human resources Milind Lakkad said the levels have been achieved after 18 months of “hard” efforts. “We actually have come to the point where we believe we are coming back to almost the same levels as we were pre-pandemic times,” Mr. Lakkad told PTI.

Stating that “it is kind of a business as usual” for the company employing over 6 lakh people, he said TCS will not track this metric as much in the next couple of quarters.

The number of employees working from offices for five days a week is higher than the 70% it had previously announced, he said, without giving a figure.

It can be noted that the pandemic-induced lockdowns resulted in the entire IT industry’s staff delivering work from their homes, but companies, who look at working from offices as more virtuous because of the team building, mentoring, culture deepening aspects, have struggled to get them back to workplaces.

TCS reported a marginal decline in the number of women employees at 35.5% as of June this year, but Mr. Lakkad said this is not an aspect of concern for the company and added that it has a slew of policies and measures in place before the pandemic itself wherein it has been flexible as an organisation to take care of employees’ needs.

On hiring, involuntary attrition

Mr. Lakkad declined to specifically answer if it will close the fiscal year 2024-25 by hiring 40,000 freshers. Likewise, when asked if it will close the fiscal on a positive number on the net hiring front ‘last year saw a decline in staffage amid business volatilities, he declined to give a specific answer.

To a question on whether the incidence of involuntary attrition has gone up as the company becomes more rigorous in assessing its employees, he said such an eventuality is not a core part of its HR strategy.

When a resource is hired, the company feels it is its responsibility to ensure that the talent is productive, he said, adding that it is only when there are skill mismatches over a period of time or productivity issues even after attempts are mounted to improve, that it resorts to involuntary attrition.

Meanwhile, amid a raging national controversy following the integrity of professional examinations, Mr. Lakkad said the focus on governance and ethics would have to continue, adding that technology can offer solutions to avoid instances of people gaming the system by helping in assessments and background verifications.

On SBI’s disclosure that 80% of its fresher hires are qualified engineers, Mr. Lakkad said the country was producing a huge number of engineers yearly and TCS does not see any concerns from a talent availability standpoint.

With the TCS management calling expanding on utilisation as a key metric to grow its profit margins, Mr. Lakkad said there still exists the headroom of a few percentage points to grow the number but made it clear that it will not “take it to the brim” and continue to have sufficient bench strength.

TCS’ net profit fell 3.1% compared to March quarter. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

India’s largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on July 11 posted an 8.7% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit at ₹12,040 crore in the first quarter ended June 2024.

The net profit for the year-ago period stood at ₹11,074 crore.

The company, which competes in the IT services market with the likes of Infosys, Wipro and HCLTech, reported a 5.4% increase in its revenue at ₹62,613 crore for the quarter just ended.

Sequentially, however, the net profit fell 3.1% compared to March quarter.

“I am pleased to report a strong start to the new fiscal year with all-round growth across industries and markets,” K Krithivasan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of TCS, said in a release.

The company is continuing to expand its client relationships, create new capabilities in emerging technologies and invest in innovation, including a new AI-focused TCS PacePort in France, IoT lab in the US, and expanding delivery centres in Latin America, Canada and Europe, Mr. Krithivasan added.

Samir Seksaria, Chief Financial Officer, noted that despite the usual impact of the annual wage increments in this quarter, the company delivered strong operating margin performance validating its efforts towards operational excellence.

“I am delighted to announce the successful completion of our annual increment process. Our continued focus on employee engagement and development led to industry-leading retention and strong business performance, with the net headcount addition being a matter of immense satisfaction,” Milind Lakkad, Chief HR Officer, said.

TCS has declared an interim dividend of ₹10 per equity share of ₹1 each.

With its advanced capabilities to identify chip defects, the Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager is a leap forward in semiconductor imaging. Representational
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-Bombay) has entered a strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop India’s first Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager.

This advanced sensing tool will hold the potential to unlock new levels of precision in the examination of semiconductor chips, reduce chip failures and improve the energy efficiency of electronic devices.

Over the next two years, experts from TCS will work with Dr. Kasturi Saha, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering of IIT Bombay, to develop the quantum imaging platform in the PQuest Lab.

This platform will enable better quality control of semiconductor chips, thereby improving product reliability, safety, and energy efficiency of electrical devices.

Semiconductor chips are essential to all modern electronic devices, making them smart and efficient. With the ability to process data and complete tasks, these chips act as the brains of devices across industries such as communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation and clean energy.

Dr. Kasturi Saha said, “PQuest group at IIT-Bombay is excited to collaborate with TCS on developing a quantum imaging platform for the non-destructive examination of chips, leveraging our extensive expertise in quantum sensing to drive innovation. We aim to transform various sectors, including electronics and healthcare, and propel India forward through groundbreaking technologies and products aligned with National Quantum Mission’s Quantum Sensing and Metrology vertical.” 

Dr. Harrick Vin, Chief Technology Officer, TCS, said, “The Second Quantum Revolution is progressing at an unprecedented speed, making it imperative to pool our resources and expertise to build cutting-edge capabilities in sensing, computing, and communication technologies. This initiative will have a transformative impact on various industries and society, with applications ranging from electronics to healthcare, and beyond. By working together, we can drive innovation and create a brighter future for all.”

‘We are keen to collaborate with industry’

The collaboration between TCS and IIT-Bombay is aligned with the National Quantum Mission — an initiative by the Government of India to position the nation as a global quantum technology leader.

Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director, IIT-Bombay, said, “This collaboration aims to develop a quantum imaging platform for the non-destructive examination of chips. We are keen to collaborate with industry to translate the ideas, innovations and research into the technologies and products through such collaborations as well as start-ups that will take India ahead.”

Wide application

As semiconductors continue to shrink in size, traditional sensing methods lack the precision and capabilities to detect anomalies in chips. The Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager can image magnetic fields, enabling a non-invasive and non-destructive mapping of semiconductor chips, much like an MRI at a hospital.

It uses the defects in a diamond’s structure, known as Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centres, together with the other hardware and software for detecting and characterizing anomalies in semiconductor chips. The diagnostic capabilities will have significant implications for failure analysis, device development, and various optimisation processes, Mr. Kedare explained.

With its advanced capabilities to identify chip defects such as current leakages and enable visualisation of three-dimensional charge flow in multi-layer chips, Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager is a leap forward in semiconductor imaging.

It will have wide applications in microelectronics, biological, and geological imaging, and fine-scale imaging of magnetic fields, among others. This project builds on TCS and IIT-Bombay’s dynamic partnership since the 1990s, spanning joint research projects, collaborative education programs, internships, faculty development programs, and more. IIT-Bombay was the first institute to be signed as an academic partner for TCS’ Co-Innovation Network, a platform driving industry-academia collaboration for pioneering solutions.