TCS to retrain 100,000 staff yearly as AI redefines tech jobs
MUMBAI, INDIA — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is embarking on one of the world’s biggest corporate reskilling drives, retraining about 100,000 employees each year, as artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the global technology landscape and redefines traditional outsourcing models, according to a report from Nikkei Asia.
The company’s Chief Technology Officer, Harrick Vin, told Nikkei Asia that the rapid rise of generative AI is “unlike any previous technological wave,” transforming how work is done and forcing a “big shift” in operations and talent priorities.
“A lot of the code and software will get auto-generated, so those roles (software engineers) will diminish over time,” Vin said during the Nikkei’s GenAI/SUM 2025 forum in Tokyo.
Reskilling for an AI-first future
Vin explained that the average lifespan of technology skills has dramatically shortened from roughly 30 years to under six, necessitating constant retraining. To keep pace, TCS has begun internally retraining its workforce through AI-led learning programs, hands-on hackathons, and digital upskilling initiatives.
“We have to retrain around 100,000 people every year,” he said, calling the effort essential to preparing employees for “a very different set of roles and competencies.” Traditional software testing, Vin added, “will probably go away,” replaced by continuous assurance methods suited for self-evolving AI systems.
TCS’s retraining initiative aligns with its ongoing restructuring strategy. In July, the company announced plans to cut 12,200 jobs, or about 2% of its workforce, by March 2026 as part of its transition into a “future-ready organization.”
Its latest financial results show modest growth, with revenue up 2.4% to 657.99 billion rupees (US$7.9 billion) and net profit rising 1.4% to 120.75 billion rupees (US$1.45 billion).
AI-driven business models emerge
As clients adopt agentic AI, systems that can make and execute decisions autonomously, TCS is also adapting its pricing approach. Some clients are moving toward “outcome-based” models where the firm is paid for results rather than billable hours, signaling a fundamental change in how IT services are delivered and valued.
Despite short-term uncertainties, Vin remains optimistic. Generative AI “will be a boon” for the IT services industry. However, Vin said, “it will go through a transient phase.”
TCS is positioning itself around “human-centric AI” designed to augment human decision-making rather than replace it.
Outsourcing redefined in the AI era
TCS’s reskilling push underscores a broader transformation within the global outsourcing industry, as AI automation begins to erode the traditional labor-based model. Competitors like Infosys, Accenture, and Cognizant are making similar moves to embed AI into operations while retooling human capital for more strategic and analytical roles.
As outsourcing shifts from manpower to machine power, TCS’s approach suggests that the winners of this AI era will be those who can blend technological capability with continuous learning, redefining not just how tech jobs are done, but what it means to be future-ready in a world led by intelligent systems.
TCS previously ranked #8 in the OA500 2025, an objective index of the world’s top 500 outsourcing companies.
