Bengaluru, Aug 5 (PTI) Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge on Tuesday said the state is talking to companies to evaluate the impact of AI on workforce and the assessment is expected to be completed in about a month.
The comment assumes significance in the backdrop of TCS’ decision to slash 12,000 jobs this year. The unexpected move by India’s largest IT services company has sent fresh tremors in the tech industry, that has been battling global macroeconomic woes and geopolitical uncertainty.
On the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees’ Union reportedly seeking action against TCS over the job cuts, Kharge said Karnataka does not recognise unions in IT sector.
He, however, added that “if there are concerns raised by public and people, it is our responsibility to address it”.
“We are talking to companies to ask them what exactly we can do to ensure our HR or talent is most employable. We are getting a survey done with the companies on AI affect in workforce,” Kharge told PTI on sidelines of SAP Labs India event.
He added that the process is expected to be completed in about a month.
It is pertinent to mention here that India’s top IT services companies have delivered single-digit revenue growth in Q1 FY26, capping off a somewhat-sobering June quarter as macroeconomic instability and geopolitical tensions have weighed on global tech demand and delayed client decision making.
According to TCS, the planned layoffs are part of the company’s broader strategy to become a “future-ready organisation”, focusing on investments in technology, AI deployment, market expansion, and workforce realignment.
TCS is on a journey to become a future-ready organisation. This includes strategic initiatives on multiple fronts, including investing in new-tech areas, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves, deepening our partnerships, creating next-gen infrastructure, and realigning our workforce model, the company had said.
“Towards this, a number of reskilling and redeployment initiatives have been underway. As part of this journey, we will also be releasing associates from the organisation whose deployment may not be feasible. This will impact about 2 per cent of our global workforce, primarily in the middle and the senior grades, over the course of the year,” TCS had said last month.
TCS MD and Chief Executive K Krithivasan had recently stated the company is experiencing a “demand contraction” due to the continued uncertainties on the macroeconomic and geopolitical fronts, and added that he does not see a double-digit revenue growth in FY26.
Krithivasan explained the delays in decision-making experienced in the preceding quarter have “intensified” now, and hoped for the discretionary spends — a prime mover of revenue growths for IT companies — would return once the uncertainties ebb.
Microsoft, the second most valuable publicly listed company after Nvidia globally, has so far laid off over 15,000 employees in 2025, that is 7 per cent of the company’s global workforce.
In a memo to over 200,000 employees last month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the layoffs this year have been “weighing heavily” on him.
“This is the enigma of success in an industry that has no franchise value,” he said in the memo to the staff.
He added, “Progress isn’t linear. It’s dynamic, sometimes dissonant, and always demanding. But it’s also a new opportunity for us to shape, lead through, and have greater impact than ever before.” According to Layoffs.fyi — a platform that tracks global tech industry layoffs — over 80,000 tech workers have been laid off across 169 tech companies in 2025 alone.
In 2024, that number stood at a staggering 1.5 lakh across 551 tech companies — the stark numbers coinciding as much with global macroeconomic woes as with deep debate in tech circles about the impact of AI on job roles, workforce, and employability. PTI
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