TCS plans to hire 80% with digital and AI skills as AI revenue grows

Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services expects 80 per cent of its new hires to possess digital and artificial intelligence skills, reflecting a shift in workforce requirements as AI-led work expands.AI contributed 10 per cent of revenue in the September quarter. Management said rising business volumes in this segment could improve profitability, with margins still below the company’s aspirational levels.AI And Digital Skills Shape HiringChief Operating Officer Arathi Subramanian said TCS added 4,500 employees during Q2. Around 25–30 per cent represented pure AI talent, while approximately 80 per cent belonged to new-age skill categories.She indicated that a similar hiring mix would continue and said suitable talent was available in the market.Suzlon Bets ₹550 Crore On 3 AI-Powered Blade Factories, 15,000 Jobs In Pipeline By 2027 The company’s approach emphasizes digital capabilities as customers expand their use of artificial intelligence across business functions.Learning Matters Across Career StagesSubramanian said opportunities favour professionals willing to unlearn and acquire new skills, rather than depending on career stage.Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director K Krithivasan said mid-level engineers who embrace learning bring an advantage through their understanding of technology environments and industry domains.TCS will continue investing in specialised talent, alongside mergers, acquisitions and partnerships, he added.Expanding AI Projects Could Support MarginsKrithivasan said higher volumes of AI deals could deliver margin benefits.Subramanian explained that customers often begin with AI projects in a limited business area. Once results demonstrate value, they seek to extend work across other functions.TCS reported total contract value of $9.6 billion in Q2. Management did not disclose the AI share, saying the company applies conservative criteria when classifying contracts, although AI features in virtually all current work.TCS To Transition Best Buy's India Global Capability Center Into An AI-Native Hub Porsche And Best Buy Deals ExplainedKrithivasan rejected suggestions that recent Porsche and Best Buy contracts, involving the absorption of client employees, signalled market challenges.He described them as opportunities to help customers transform their operations and become AI-first businesses, positioning the arrangements as part of technology-led change.

Mumbai: As much as 80 per cent of TCS' new hires will be talent with digital and Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills going forward, a top company official has said.With the share of AI-led work in overall revenue growing to 10 per cent in the recently concluded September quarter, the country's largest IT services company said a growth in the share of AI revenues will help it expand its profit margins, which remain below its aspirational levels."Of the 4,500 that we have added in Q2, I would say safely 25 to 30 per cent are pure AI and total about 80 per cent is new age," the company's chief operating officer Arathi Subramanian told PTI here.When asked if the same proportion will continue going ahead as well, she replied in the affirmative and added that the desired talent is available in the market.When asked if it is advantage for freshers over the mid-career professionals in this sort environment, where their AI-nativity and relatively lower costs would be of help to the former, she said that it is advantage for people willing to "unlearn and learn"."If a mid-level engineer is willing to learn, it gives a huge advantage because he or she understands what is the technology landscape, what is the domain," the company's chief executive and managing director K Krithivasan added, pointing out that a junior engineer may not be able to understand the same.The company will continue investing in "niche talent" going forward as well, Krithivasan said, adding that mergers and acquisitions and partnerships will be other areas of investments.Krithivasan said the trend of growth in AI revenues will also help from a profitability perspective."As these (AI) deals increase in volume, you would see that there will be margin (benefit)," he said.Subramanian said customers are signing up for an AI deal in a small vertical, and expanding then asking for an expansion of the same work in other areas as well once the efficacy of the spending gets established.To a question on what is the proportion of AI in new deal signings and how much of the USD 9.6 billion in total contract value of Q2 is AI, Krithivasan said the company is very conservative while classifying a deal as a an AI one, but added that there is some aspect of AI in virtually all the work that it is doing at present.When asked if two recent deal wins on Porsche and Best Buy, where a contract is accompanied with absorbing the clients' staff into TCS, portends to challenges in the market, Krithivasan replied in the negative."These two are opportunities where our customers come to us and we have discussions on how we help them transform themselves and make them AI first," he said.

In an interview with businessline, CEO K Krithivasan and COO Aarthi Subramanian discuss the tapering of traditional IT services, the changing nature of enterprise AI demand, and how human-AI collaboration could reshape the way technology services are delivered.

The shift comes as TCS’s annualised AI revenue crossed $3 billion, accounting for more than a tenth of its business

AI revenue crosses $3 billion as TCS bets on new services to sustain growth