
TCS headcount set to breach half-a-million mark
TCS’s total headcount is estimated to cross the 5 lakh landmark this year, and with the pace at which its employee numbers are rising, it could become the world’s largest IT services company in terms of employees in few years. Only Accenture is bigger now.
TCS is already regarded as India’s largest private-sector employer. Moreover, it is bigger than public sector undertakings (PSUs). Only the central government (including the armed forces and Indian Railways), and some of the state governments have more extended employees. During the fiscal year 2021 TCS experienced a rise of 40,005 in its headcount, taking the total at the end of the year to 488,469. The company has stated that it will charter about 40,000 from campuses this year. There will be lateral hires too, as also exits.
Considering the total headcount growth in recent years and the company’s good order book position, the employee strength is estimated to be around 5.3 lakh by the end of this fiscal. It recruits about 90,000 employees outside India. Accenture has 537,000 employees. Over the preceding year, it had fostered by about 28,000. TCS is consolidating more employees each year. And if that trend continues, it should cross Accenture in 2-3 years. TCS took four years to get from 1 lakh to 2 lakh employees, three years to get from 2 lakh to 3 lakh, five years to get from 3 lakh to 4 lakh. And the next one lakh may happen the fastest, in 2-3 years.
Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of IT consulting & research firm Everest Group, revealed that "the size of its work force demonstrates the significant role TCS plays in the labor market for technical resources both in India, and in the US and Europe. Having said that, the size and scale of its workforce will at some point start to constrain its growth. headcount other reasons are why TCS is investing heavily in developing IP (intellectual property) based business where their growth is not tied to increases in the head count”.
Further, Milind Lakkad, TCS’s chief human resources officer reported that "the company’s National Qualifier Test (NQT), which is conducted four times a year, would help it bring in more freshers, and manage the rise in attrition levels." Earlier this week he announced that "the NQT gives us scope to bring in people as and when we need so there will be no supply constraint.” The war for talent has consented to a new level with skill sets like full-stack developers, React-Native, UI/UX designers commanding a premium in the market.