TCS Shifts Hiring Strategy: No New H-1B Employees This Year, Focus Moves to Local US Talent and AI Expansion

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced a major shift in its US hiring strategy, signaling a move away from visa-based recruitment toward a stronger local workforce. CEO K Krithivasan confirmed that the company will not bring in new H-1B hires during the current financial year, a move that underscores TCS’s evolving approach to global talent management amid a changing business landscape.

According to a report by the popular publication, Krithivasan stated that TCS plans to rely more on local talent across its US operations rather than expanding its H-1B employee base. “Even among those approved, we deploy fewer people than the number of approvals each year,” he noted, adding that L-1 visas continue to serve specific, limited purposes but are not meant to replace H-1B positions.

Currently, around 11,000 of TCS’s roughly 32,000–33,000 employees in the United States work under H-1B visas. The company’s new approach reflects a gradual but steady reduction in visa dependency, aligning with broader efforts by Indian IT giants to strengthen local presence in global markets.

The announcement comes at a time when the IT industry is facing subdued demand. With clients cutting back on discretionary spending and project budgets, TCS has seen a muted growth phase. The company recently implemented a 2 percent headcount reduction to align operations with market realities. Krithivasan emphasized that the process was managed “with a great deal of compassion and care,” ensuring that affected employees received fair severance packages and clear communication about the company’s strategic direction.

While managing short-term challenges, TCS is simultaneously making a bold bet on the future — artificial intelligence. The company has unveiled plans for a nearly $7-billion investment in AI data centers across the globe. This initiative is central to its goal of becoming the world’s leading AI-driven services company.

Krithivasan outlined TCS’s five-pillar AI strategy: transforming internal operations, enhancing client service delivery, upgrading workforce capabilities, using AI to reshape value chains, and strengthening collaboration within the larger technology ecosystem. The upcoming AI data centers will allow TCS to offer comprehensive AI services, ranging from cloud infrastructure to model training and inferencing. The move is expected to support both Indian and international clients with scalable, next-generation AI solutions.

According to Krithivasan, AI has now become inseparable from TCS’s service portfolio. “Every project now is AI-led in some form. Drawing a clear line to differentiate AI-led projects is becoming harder,” he said, adding that the company is yet to disclose AI-specific revenue figures due to this deep integration. He anticipates that in the near future, almost all TCS projects will be driven by AI technologies.

Despite a challenging demand environment, TCS remains cautiously optimistic about its international revenue performance. After a slow start in Q1, the company witnessed signs of improvement in Q2. Meanwhile, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) — once seen as rivals — are now becoming key collaborators in TCS’s evolving ecosystem, signaling a new era of partnership-led growth.