'Alarming': Karnataka Labour Minister Summons TCS Over 12,000 Job Cuts

Last Updated:August 01, 2025, 00:13 IST

Karnataka labour minister Santosh Lad said he will look into labour law leniency given to Sunrise industries as there are conditions attached

TCS said the move is part of its broader strategy to become a "future-ready organisation". (Image: News18)

Karnataka labour minister Santosh Lad on Thursday called the 12,000 layoffs at TCS “alarming" and said his department has summoned the IT company to explain the reason behind it.

Lad said he will look into labour law leniency given to Sunrise industries as there are conditions attached. He said it is alarming that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had to resort to large-scale job cuts.

“Yesterday we got information that the TCS has laid off 12,000 employees. Our department has called TCS officials just to have consultation to know the reason," Lad told reporters.

“We have kept the sunrise companies outside the ambit of labour laws and for the past five years we have been giving them exemption year after year but yet there are conditions attached," he said. “If they want to layoff somebody, they have to give us information. Accordingly, we are talking to them."

TCS had indicated that it is set to lay off about 2 percent, or 12,261 employees, of its global workforce this year, with the majority of those impacted belonging to middle and senior grades.

As of June 30, TCS workforce stood at 6,13,069. It increased its workforce by 5,000 employees in the recently concluded April-June quarter. The move is part of its broader strategy to become a “future-ready organisation", focusing on investments in technology, AI deployment, market expansion, and workforce realignment, it said.

The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) had taken a strong objection over the mass retrenchment and filed a complaint against TCS with the additional labour commissioner G Manjunath.

In a statement, the union said it has demanded legal action against the management for violations of the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, as well as the conditions imposed by the Karnataka government concerning the reporting of service particulars.

The minister said another reason behind calling TCS and other industries was to convey to them that the state government is not accepting their request for increasing working hours by nine to 10 hours a day. He said if the employees are ready to work then we will consider their request as per the guidelines and give our permission.

“This is subject to the employees’ wishes. Those employees who reject the permission will not be forced to do it," he said.

He further said in his opinion, it is difficult to implement increasing working hours because at least four hours are needed to travel to the workplace. While one has to work for eight hours and given the strenuous traffic scenario in Bengaluru one ends up spending at least three to four hours on travelling everyday.

“As minister also when I see this proposal of increasing the working hours, I feel that it is not scientific. Increasing working hours can happen for a week or 10 days but not throughout the year in view of Bengaluru traffic," he said.

He also said there was nothing wrong with the claim by those representing industry that increasing working hours will benefit employees and industry. However, those employees who agree to increase their working hours have to give in writing but we cannot implement it across the board, he added.

(With PTI inputs)

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August 01, 2025, 00:13 IST

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