TCS, the IT arm of the Tata Group and one of India's biggest business houses, is preparing to place a major bet in the world of artificial intelligence. The company is putting together a specialised team of engineers who will sit directly with clients and work on AI projects inside their systems. With this move, TCS is setting itself up to compete head-on with technology heavyweights such as OpenAI, Google and Microsoft. The team is expected to include around 8,900 engineers.
The company firmly believes that AI is not a threat to the IT sector but a huge doorway to new business. Working on that conviction, TCS is pushing forward on three fronts at once: sharpening the skills of its own workforce, adopting new technology, and buying other companies when the need arises. Its argument is that in the coming years, simply building an AI model will not be enough. The real challenge will be implementing those models correctly inside the systems of different companies, and that is precisely where TCS expects its biggest strength to lie.
Just One to One-and-a-Half Percent of the Workforce
TCS Chief Executive Officer K Krithivasan said the company is building a dedicated team that will make up roughly 1 to 1.5 percent of its total headcount. These engineers will sit directly with clients, understand their real needs, and craft AI solutions to match. As of the end of June 2026, TCS had about 5.94 lakh employees. On that basis, the number works out to somewhere between roughly 5,900 and 8,900 engineers. The company has not yet clarified whether this will involve fresh hiring or training up existing staff for the role.
The job of these engineers will not be to simply hand a client an AI tool. Instead, they will shape the AI to fit the company's existing systems, its data and its way of working. Companies around the world are today using a range of different AI models. That leaves them in need of a trusted partner who can stitch all these varied systems together and make them run properly.
A Direct Fight With the Big Players
With this decision, TCS is now walking the same path as companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft. Each of them is also bringing on board specialist engineers who go to the client's site and help put AI technology into practice on the ground.
Having grown its business largely on its own strength for many years, TCS is now seriously weighing the option of acquiring other companies when required. It is looking in particular for acquisitions in artificial intelligence, data security and cyber security, deals that could further strengthen its technical muscle.
Over 8,400 Crore Spent Every Year
TCS spends roughly 1 billion dollars, or about 8,400 crore rupees, every year on training its workforce, adopting new technology and strengthening AI within the company. A large share of this money goes into teaching employees new skills, hiring experts and embracing AI-based technologies.
There is growing worry around the world that AI could shrink the need for IT companies in the years ahead. TCS, however, does not agree with that view at all. The company argues that AI models cannot function on their own inside an organisation. Implementing them, connecting them to older systems and using data the right way will always require experienced IT companies.
AI Business Slows a Little
That said, the pace of the company's AI business did ease somewhat in the first quarter. Annual revenue growth from AI came in at 13 percent in the first quarter, compared with 28 percent in the previous quarter. Even so, TCS maintains that over the long run its goal is to grow this business at a rate of about 25 percent each quarter.
