India IT services · vizmaya desk · 15 Oct 2026

TCS's bill for outside consultants is up 48% in six quarters. Its staff numbers do not show it.

Two big results landed in one week. What the filings leave out is the story.

By vizmaya desk · 15 October 2026

The key numbers

Four numbers from TCS's own filings.

+47.6%Fees to outside consultants, up from $351M to $518MQ1 FY26 to Q2 FY27 · TCS fact sheets
19,755People gone from the payroll in one quarterQ2 FY26 · TCS fact sheets
13.3%Yearly "voluntary" attrition, down from 13.8%Q2 FY27 vs Q1 FY26 · TCS fact sheets
598,056Employees on the books todayQ2 FY27 · TCS fact sheet

TCS's year runs April to March. Q2 FY27 means July to September 2026. Source: TCS Q2 FY27 fact sheet, plus earlier quarterly sheets.

First, the basics

An IT services firm sells time. Its people are most of its cost.

A client pays TCS for work. TCS pays its own staff, pays some outside firms and freelancers, and keeps what is left.

Of every $100 TCS billed in the latest quarter, about $57 went to its own employees and about $7 to outside consultants.

Source: TCS Q2 FY27 fact sheet, expenses in US dollars. "Everything else" holds all other costs and the profit. Vizmaya Desk, 15 Oct 2026.

The worry

AI threatens the thing the firm sells: hours of human work.

If a tool does in one hour what a person did in five, a client can ask to pay for one. That is the fear hanging over Indian IT firms.

Illustration of the idea, not data. Interpretation It is a worry, not a measured result. The next slides show what the firms report.

Headcount

TCS lost 19,755 people in one quarter, then began hiring again.

Staff fell from 613,069 to 593,314 in the quarter to September 2025 and bottomed at 582,163. TCS has since added 15,893 and now has 598,056.

Source: TCS quarterly fact sheets, Q4 FY24 to Q2 FY27, closing headcount. Vizmaya Desk, 15 Oct 2026.

Growth

Growth is back, but it is small.

At constant exchange rates, TCS shrank for four quarters in a row and grew 2.8% in the latest one. "Constant currency" strips out the rupee's swings so the comparison is fair.

Source: TCS quarterly fact sheets, Q1 FY25 to Q2 FY27, year-on-year growth. Vizmaya Desk, 15 Oct 2026.

New deals

Orders have held near $9.5 billion. Demand did not collapse.

TCS signed $9.6 billion of new deals last quarter, after $9.5 billion and $9.3 billion. Only the March quarters stood out, at $12.2 billion and $12.0 billion.

Source: TCS quarterly fact sheets, "order book TCV". TCS's own definition: do not compare it with other firms. Vizmaya Desk, 15 Oct 2026.

The stress point

Fees to outside consultants rose 48%. Staff pay and revenue barely moved.

Fact

Over six quarters, consultant fees went from $351 million to $518 million. Revenue rose 3.0%. Employee cost fell 0.9%.

Source: TCS fact sheets, Q1 FY26 to Q2 FY27, expense by nature, US dollars. Q2 FY26 shown before a one-off restructuring charge, as TCS reports it. Vizmaya Desk, 15 Oct 2026.

The split

The shift is almost one for one.

Fact

Employees took 59.5% of revenue, now 57.2%. Consultants took 4.7%, now 6.8%. Everything else stayed near 36%.

Interpretation

That pattern fits work moving from staff to outsiders. The filing does not say so.

Source: own arithmetic on TCS fact sheets, Q1 FY26 and Q2 FY27. Vizmaya Desk, 15 Oct 2026.

What is missing

Nobody can see how many outside people that is.

Fact

TCS reports how many employees it has. It does not disclose how many contractors it pays for. So the jump in fees cannot be turned into a number of people.

Counted: employeesNot counted: contractors

Illustration of the gap. The number of people in each group is not data.

Attrition

Attrition looked calm in the quarter 19,755 people left.

It dipped from 13.8% to 13.3%. From that same quarter, TCS began calling the number "voluntary" attrition. A voluntary-only figure leaves out exits the company chose.

Source: BSE investor release and TCS fact sheets, yearly rate, IT services. Vizmaya Desk, 15 Oct 2026.

The lens: what is not being said

HCLTech's newest result leaves three things undefined.

HCLTech reported on 12 October. It led with $219 million of "advanced AI revenue", up 78% on a year earlier. The firm defines that term itself, and the figure is not audited. It also reported 12.8% attrition, but that leaves out people the company let go. And it reported 6,450 net new hires, 6,136 of them freshers, but not how many people left. Who gains? Management. A rising AI number and a calm attrition number tell investors AI is adding work, not replacing it. Every figure stated is accurate. The gap is in what the firm chose to define.

Source: HCLTech Q2 FY27 press release, 12 Oct 2026. Fact in the numbers, interpretation in who gains.

What changed this week

Three developments in seven days.

12 OCT 2026

HCLTech reports record bookings of $3.3 billion, advanced AI revenue of $219 million, and attrition of 12.8%.

8 OCT 2026

TCS reports 2.8% constant-currency growth, 4,258 net new staff and $9.6 billion of new deals.

8 OCT 2026

US authorities suspend several Indian IT firms, TCS among them, from the PERM green card programme, press outlets report.

Sources: HCLTech; Business Today on TCS; Staffing Industry Analysts on PERM. No US government notice was found.

Risks and the counter-case

The strongest case against this reading.

Why it may be ordinary

  • Every number here comes from an exchange filing, and definitions sit in the footnotes.
  • Rising consultant fees can be normal subcontracting for rare skills.
  • HCLTech added 6,450 people. That is the opposite of a shrinking firm.

What we cannot know

Speculation

Whether firms pick definitions to flatter the story. The filings fit that reading and they fit ordinary practice. Nothing here proves intent.

What we can show is a plain gap: the filings do not let a reader see who is doing the work.

What to watch next

Three things that would change the picture.

  • 15 October, after markets close: Wipro reports. It would replace HCLTech as the newest result.
  • 23 October: Infosys reports. Does it say how much of its revenue is AI, and how it defines that?
  • TCS's next fact sheet: does the consultant line climb past $518 million, and does TCS say how many contractors that pays for?

Dates: Angel One, Kotak Neo.

Sources and claims log

22 claims checked. 20 verified.

20Verified. One is our own arithmetic.
1Contested: TCS's AI revenue figure. Outlets disagree. Left off this page.
1Unverified: HCLTech's total growth vs its AI growth. Left off this page.
7Gaps: no contractor headcount, no Infosys or Wipro series yet.

Method: figures come from filings or two matching outlets. Written by vizmaya desk, 15 October 2026.