{"slug": "india-s-tcs-plans-up-to-8900-ai-deployment-engineers-seeks-ai-acquisitions", "title": "India's TCS plans up to 8,900 AI deployment engineers, seeks AI acquisitions", "summary": "Tata Consultancy Services plans to build a team of up to 8,900 forward-deployed engineers and pursue AI acquisitions, betting that artificial intelligence will create new business rather than disrupt India's $315 billion IT services industry. CEO K Krithivasan said the strategy aims to accelerate AI adoption for clients, while CFO Samir Seksaria confirmed the company is evaluating acquisitions in AI, data security, and cybersecurity.", "body_md": "# India's Tata Consultancy Services plans up to 8,900 AI deployment engineers, seeks AI acquisitions\n\nBENGALURU, July 12 : Tata Consultancy Services is building a team of up to 8,900 forward-deployed engineers and hunting for AI acquisitions as it bets artificial intelligence will create new business rather than undermine outsourcing, two TCS executives told Reuters.\n\nThe strategy emerges amid investor concern that AI could disrupt India's $315 billion IT services industry by reducing demand for engineering teams, shortening project timelines and squeezing prices as clients seek a share of productivity gains.\n\n\"We would be ... ensuring that we have as many as 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent of our associates who could be what you would call FDEs,\" CEO K Krithivasan said in an interview. TCS is India's largest software services firm.\n\nKrithivasan's figures would translate to roughly 5,900 to 8,900 employees based on TCS's end-June headcount. Krithivasan did not say whether the company would hire externally or retrain existing staff.\n\n[\nGuess Word\nCrack the word, one row at a time\n](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/games/guess-word)\n\n[\nBuzzword\nCreate words using the given letters\n](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/games/buzzword)\n\n[\nMini Sudoku\nTiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser\n](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/games/mini-sudoku)\n\n[\nMini Crossword\nSmall grid, big challenge\n](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/games/mini-crossword)\n\n[\nWord Search\nSpot as many words as you can\n](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/games/word-search)\n\nForward-deployed engineers embed with clients to accelerate AI adoption and tailor tools to business needs, a role that has emerged as a hiring bright spot in a sector grappling with AI-driven efficiency gains.\n\nThe plan pits TCS against firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft, which have expanded hiring for forward-deployed engineers to help clients deploy AI tools.\n\nThe Mumbai-based company is also evaluating acquisitions in AI, data security and cybersecurity, after largely shunning acquisitions for years and relying instead on organic growth until late 2025.\n\n\"We are looking at where we can find things which will help us enable or enhance our strategic positioning,\" CFO Samir Seksaria said.\n\nAI: FRIEND OR FOE?\n\nKrithivasan dismissed concerns that AI would disrupt the outsourcing model, arguing that companies still need partners such as TCS to integrate and deploy AI systems.\n\n\"What you need is a deep knowledge of the customer environment to make it work. That is where we differentiate ourselves. This has nothing to do with cost arbitrage. It's essentially because of the talent pool that we have built,\" Krithivasan said.\n\nCompanies increasingly use multiple AI models and require partners such as TCS to connect those models with existing systems and manage data flows, he said.\n\nEven so, TCS's annualised AI revenue growth slowed to 13 per cent in the first quarter from 28 per cent in the previous quarter. Krithivasan said he would like the business to grow about 25 per cent quarter-on-quarter over the long term but that he did not expect a linear trajectory.\n\nTCS spends about $1 billion annually on talent development and making AI accessible internally, with a focus on training, targeted hiring and niche recruitment in AI-native technologies, Seksaria said.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/india-s-tcs-plans-up-to-8900-ai-deployment-engineers-seeks-ai-acquisitions", "canonical_source": "https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/indias-tata-consultancy-services-plans-up-8900-ai-deployment-engineers-seeks-ai-acquisitions-6249086", "published_at": "2026-07-12 12:48:49+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-12 13:05:04.268393+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups", "ai-products", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Tata Consultancy Services", "TCS", "K Krithivasan", "Samir Seksaria", "OpenAI", "Anthropic", "Microsoft", "Reuters"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/india-s-tcs-plans-up-to-8900-ai-deployment-engineers-seeks-ai-acquisitions", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/india-s-tcs-plans-up-to-8900-ai-deployment-engineers-seeks-ai-acquisitions.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/india-s-tcs-plans-up-to-8900-ai-deployment-engineers-seeks-ai-acquisitions.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/india-s-tcs-plans-up-to-8900-ai-deployment-engineers-seeks-ai-acquisitions.jsonld"}}