CPIML MP Raja Ram Singh, urging urgent action against illegal IT layoffs, said, “Hard Work of Employees Built This Sector. Their Futures Cannot Be Sacrificed for Corporate Greed.”
Employees at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) experiencing anxiety and uncertainty due to large-scale layoffs within the company. Many have been asked to leave for reasons such as poor performance, lack of projects, and an economic downturn in the US and Europe.
In August, TCS announced plans to cut approximately 12,000 positions, citing the increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a contributing factor.
However, various employee unions claim the actual number of job losses is substantially higher, estimating between 50,000 and 100,000.
Alagunambi Welkin, general secretary of the Union of IT and ITES Employees (UNITE), accused TCS of employing “coercion and pressure tactics” to compel employees to resign.
He stated,
“Some HRs are even employing labour lawyers and threatening to withhold salaries, provident fund and gratuity payments,”
He further mentioned that at the company’s Siruseri campus in Chennai, employees are summoned for “separation meetings” and isolated from their colleagues.
He added,
“There are three rooms where a psychiatrist, a general physician and an HR representative are stationed,”
CPIML MP Raja Ram Singh demanded urgent government intervention to stay illegal mass lay-offs in India’s IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) sector, highlighting the severe impact on employees’ livelihoods.
According to Singh, over 12,000 employees were terminated in July 2025 alone.
Raja Ram Singh has called for enforcement of labour laws and protection of workers’ dignity and rights.
He said,
“The hard work of employees built this sector. Their futures cannot be sacrificed for corporate greed. It is the responsibility of the government to protect their rights, dignity, and livelihoods from illegal and exploitative practices.”
In a letter to Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Singh urged them to intervene in what he described as “illegal lay-offs across TCS and the broader IT/ITES sector.”
He highlighted that mass retrenchments are being carried out under the pretext of “skill mismatch,” despite TCS’s own FY25 report showing 91% of its staff underwent skill training.
Singh further alleged,
“Large-scale violations of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 which mandates prior government approval before retrenchment, claiming ‘no IT company has complied’.”
He estimated that over 1.5 lakh employees were unlawfully terminated in 2024 alone and demanded immediate government action to safeguard workers’ rights.
The MP’s letter comes amid growing concerns about job security in India’s IT sector, which has been a major contributor to the country’s economy.
Labour activists and employee unions have echoed Singh’s calls, urging stricter government oversight to prevent exploitation and illegal dismissals.
Despite these claims, TCS maintains that the situation has been misrepresented.
A company statement said,
“As communicated earlier, the impact is limited to 2% of our workforce. Those who have been affected have been provided due care and severance, as is due to them in each of the individual circumstances,”
However, employees convey a different experience. A former employee, who left on September 8, mentioned that HR had contacted some laid-off workers even after their departure.
The individual recounted,
“We got calls more than 15 days after leaving, asking if we wanted to meet a psychiatrist,”
Suhas Adiga, general secretary of the Karnataka State IT/ITES Union (KITU), revealed that the union has filed an industrial dispute case against TCS with the Karnataka Additional Commissioner of Labour.
He noted,
“The next hearing is scheduled for October 15,”