TCS salary hike: Why Ratan Tata's company delayed increment? This is what Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad said

Ratan Tata’s Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) has indicated that the decision on the announcement of salary increments will take a little longer. After the June quarter financial results statement, India’s largest IT services firm’s Chief Financial Officer, Samir Seksaria, ensured that delivering wage hikes is a ‘priority’, ensuring that TCS will focus on growth with profitability, reported by PTI. Chief Human Resources Officer Milind Lakkad recently stated the decision to defer the salary increment was a ‘conscious’ one, noting that this is the second time they had to make a ‘tough call’.

Why has TCS delayed employees' salary hike?

TCS deferred its annual wage hikes that typically set in from April. CHRO Milind Lakkad, who is set to be replaced by Sudeep Kunnumal, reasoned pending hikes, stating that the company prefers to do what’s right for their nearly 6 lakh employees, and historically, they have always followed their hike cycle. “We took a conscious call to hold off on hikes until we see stability in the environment. Needless to say, we don’t like this situation at all. We want to do the right thing and ensure that employees get their hikes at the right time. Historically, except for the Covid year, we’ve always stuck to our cycle. This is only the second time we’ve had to make a tough call,” he told Business Standard.

With the attrition rate hitting a ‘concerning level’, Lakkad said that the nature of the job will change, but opportunities will also increase. Amid rapid AI growth, he advocated a ‘shift-left’ strategy, engaging academia to prepare students for jobs. He believes that scaling this model will build a USD 1 trillion Indian IT industry, ensuring industry-academia synergy. 

TCS attrition rate, Q1 net profit

With the attrition rate hitting a ‘concerning level’, Lakkad said that the nature of the job will change, but opportunities will also increase. TCS’s employee attrition rate hit 13.8 per cent, a slight increase from the previous quarter. Amid rapid AI growth, he advocated a ‘shift-left’ strategy, engaging academia to prepare students for jobs. He believes that scaling this model will build a USD 1 trillion Indian IT industry, ensuring industry-academia synergy. 

Meanwhile, TCS consolidated net profit jumped 6 per cent to Rs 12,760 crore for the April-June quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year, up from Rs 12,040 crore last year. Their consolidated revenues grew 1.3 per cent to Rs 63,437 crore, compared to Rs 62,613 crore in the same period last year.