Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) continued to see a decline in its workforce in the third quarter of FY26, even as the company doubled the intake of freshers. The country’s largest IT services firm reported a net reduction of 11,151 employees during the quarter ended December 31, 2025, taking its total headcount to 5,82,163 from 5,93,314 in the previous quarter.
Voluntary attrition edged up to 13.5 per cent in Q3 FY26 from 13.3 per cent in the preceding quarter. Although the pace of decline slowed compared to the second quarter, when headcount fell by 19,755, the overall trend of workforce reduction continued.
Analysts attributed the decline largely to the company’s ongoing restructuring exercise. Earlier, TCS had indicated that around 2 per cent of its workforce, or about 12,260 employees, would be impacted as part of this process, though the company has not specified exact numbers by quarter.
Employee union NITES said the latest disclosures point to large-scale workforce rationalisation rather than routine attrition. Its president Harpreet Singh Saluja said the sharp fall in headcount alongside elevated attrition highlights the scale of restructuring underway at the company.