Key Points
- Outsourcing giant TCS is cutting over 12,000 jobs in India.
- Experts predict this could be the start of up to 500,000 job losses in the IT sector due to AI.
- AI is automating jobs in basic coding, software testing, and customer support.
- Middle management and workers with 4-12 years of experience are most at risk.
Indian outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is cutting over 12,000 jobs, a move that experts warn is just the beginning of a massive, AI-fueled shift in the country’s $283 billion IT industry.
While TCS blamed the cuts on “skill mismatches,” analysts believe the largest-ever layoffs by India’s top private employer are a clear sign of what’s to come, with up to half a million jobs potentially at risk over the next two to three years.
For decades, India’s IT sector has been a powerful engine for creating a middle class, employing millions of engineers. Now, artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over tasks that humans once performed, from basic coding and software testing to customer support.
This transition puts a huge number of workers at risk, especially those in middle management with limited tech skills and employees with 4-12 years of experience whose jobs are becoming automated.
One expert from tech intelligence firm UnearthInsight predicted that 400,000 to 500,000 professionals could be laid off as their skills no longer match what clients demand.
The fear is already palpable. A 45-year-old TCS employee affected by the layoffs said, “It is very difficult for people my age to get new jobs.” The massive job cuts are also creating a sense of dread that could ripple through the wider economy, potentially hurting consumer spending.
The message for workers is clear: adapt or get left behind. As one former tech CEO noted, with past tech revolutions, companies managed the disruption. “With AI,” he said, “for the first time, the onus is on the individual to reinvent or re-skill themselves.”
