Maharashtra Govt Confirms TCS Layoffs in Pune Amid Mounting Pressure on IT Sector

 The Maharashtra government informed the state legislative council on 9 December that Tata Consultancy Services had let go 376 workers from its Pune campuses during the first two quarters of the current fiscal year. Following enquiries from lawmakers who referenced news reports indicating widespread layoffs at the IT services company, the revelation was made. Based on data from TCS, Labour Minister Aakash Fundkar reportedly gave the figures to the upper chamber, according to the Press Trust of India.

During Question Hour, members of the Legislative Council, including Uma Khapre, Pravin Darekar, and Prasad Lad, expressed worry over the widespread loss of jobs in the Indian technology sector, attributing the trend to the growing use of artificial intelligence. They enquired as to whether some 30,000 TCS workers had been laid off at various sites, including Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Fundkar’s Written Response

According to Fundkar's written reply, TCS has verified that 45,575 workers are currently employed on its Pune campuses. He stated that following talks with the impacted employees, notices were served, and wages were paid; 376 employees were let go in Pune over the course of two consecutive quarters of the 2025–2026 fiscal year.

According to the minister, the corporation told the government that the majority of the impacted workers were in middle and senior management positions. To dispel public fears of technology-driven job losses, TCS further explained that the layoffs were not caused by the implementation of automation or artificial intelligence technologies.

Layoffs a Common Scenario in IT Sector

The problem arises as companies combine cost reductions with investments in cloud, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, raising concerns about employment patterns in India's IT sector. Analysts anticipate that automation and productivity tools will continue to change labour arrangements in large outsourcing organisations, even if TCS has not made any public comments regarding its larger workforce ambitions. Legislators have demanded more scrutiny of the industry's hiring practices, indicating that the argument over job security and technology adoption will continue to be a political and economic hot spot in the months to come.

OpenAI, TCS Discuss Launch of Stargate India Chapter

According to The Economic Times, OpenAI and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the biggest software services exporter from India, are in advanced negotiations to collaborate on the development of artificial intelligence compute infrastructure in India. According to the report, which cited people with knowledge of the matter, the two businesses will also collaborate on creating agentic AI solutions for businesses. It also stated that the proposed partnership would launch OpenAI's "Stargate India" chapter and help TCS achieve its goal of becoming the biggest AI-led services provider in the world.

The most valuable artificial intelligence business in the world started laying the foundation for Stargate's India leg in September, according to a report in The Economic Times. The company also engaged with the government and had talks with Reliance Industries. But once the two sides' negotiations came to a standstill, Reliance fortified its alliances with longstanding partners like Google and Meta in order to develop AI services and the company's IGW compute hub in Jamnagar, Gujarat.