Will "Half A Million AI Agents" Reduce TCS Workforce? What Its Chairman Said

Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said Tuesday there would be a decrease in hiring with the company expecting "half a million AI agents" in its workforce.

The Mumbai-headquartered firm, India's largest software services company, and its rivals, have battled lacklustre demand in recent years due to geopolitical uncertainty, high inflation and the rise of generative AI.

"The day is not far when the company will have half a million AI agents," the company's chairman N Chandrasekaran said Tuesday at the company's annual general meeting, adding that employees and AI agents will work together.

"Will it definitely lead to (a) decrease in hiring? Absolutely. The company will not be hiring the kind of numbers that it used to hire," he added.

His comments came almost a year after the company cut 12,000 jobs.

Chandrasekaran, however, said increasing use of AI also meant "more opportunities," which will lead to a spike in need for "new talent."

Many Indian software outsourcers, including TCS, have increased investments in AI tools and skilling, hoping to both earn new business and cut costs by boosting operational efficiencies.

With more than a billion internet users, India has seen a surge of investment as generative AI players seek inroads to the world's most populous country.

There has been a flurry of billion-dollar data centre announcements from tech giants like Google, as well as domestic firms such as Reliance Industries.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)