Milind Lakkad, EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Tata Consultancy Services. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT services exporter, has reached pre-pandemic levels on the percentage of employees working from offices, a top official has said.

Admitting that it took longer than expected, the Tata Group company’s chief of human resources Milind Lakkad said the levels have been achieved after 18 months of “hard” efforts. “We actually have come to the point where we believe we are coming back to almost the same levels as we were pre-pandemic times,” Mr. Lakkad told PTI.

Stating that “it is kind of a business as usual” for the company employing over 6 lakh people, he said TCS will not track this metric as much in the next couple of quarters.

The number of employees working from offices for five days a week is higher than the 70% it had previously announced, he said, without giving a figure.

It can be noted that the pandemic-induced lockdowns resulted in the entire IT industry’s staff delivering work from their homes, but companies, who look at working from offices as more virtuous because of the team building, mentoring, culture deepening aspects, have struggled to get them back to workplaces.

TCS reported a marginal decline in the number of women employees at 35.5% as of June this year, but Mr. Lakkad said this is not an aspect of concern for the company and added that it has a slew of policies and measures in place before the pandemic itself wherein it has been flexible as an organisation to take care of employees’ needs.

On hiring, involuntary attrition

Mr. Lakkad declined to specifically answer if it will close the fiscal year 2024-25 by hiring 40,000 freshers. Likewise, when asked if it will close the fiscal on a positive number on the net hiring front ‘last year saw a decline in staffage amid business volatilities, he declined to give a specific answer.

To a question on whether the incidence of involuntary attrition has gone up as the company becomes more rigorous in assessing its employees, he said such an eventuality is not a core part of its HR strategy.

When a resource is hired, the company feels it is its responsibility to ensure that the talent is productive, he said, adding that it is only when there are skill mismatches over a period of time or productivity issues even after attempts are mounted to improve, that it resorts to involuntary attrition.

Meanwhile, amid a raging national controversy following the integrity of professional examinations, Mr. Lakkad said the focus on governance and ethics would have to continue, adding that technology can offer solutions to avoid instances of people gaming the system by helping in assessments and background verifications.

On SBI’s disclosure that 80% of its fresher hires are qualified engineers, Mr. Lakkad said the country was producing a huge number of engineers yearly and TCS does not see any concerns from a talent availability standpoint.

With the TCS management calling expanding on utilisation as a key metric to grow its profit margins, Mr. Lakkad said there still exists the headroom of a few percentage points to grow the number but made it clear that it will not “take it to the brim” and continue to have sufficient bench strength.

With its advanced capabilities to identify chip defects, the Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager is a leap forward in semiconductor imaging. Representational
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-Bombay) has entered a strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop India’s first Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager.

This advanced sensing tool will hold the potential to unlock new levels of precision in the examination of semiconductor chips, reduce chip failures and improve the energy efficiency of electronic devices.

Over the next two years, experts from TCS will work with Dr. Kasturi Saha, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering of IIT Bombay, to develop the quantum imaging platform in the PQuest Lab.

This platform will enable better quality control of semiconductor chips, thereby improving product reliability, safety, and energy efficiency of electrical devices.

Semiconductor chips are essential to all modern electronic devices, making them smart and efficient. With the ability to process data and complete tasks, these chips act as the brains of devices across industries such as communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation and clean energy.

Dr. Kasturi Saha said, “PQuest group at IIT-Bombay is excited to collaborate with TCS on developing a quantum imaging platform for the non-destructive examination of chips, leveraging our extensive expertise in quantum sensing to drive innovation. We aim to transform various sectors, including electronics and healthcare, and propel India forward through groundbreaking technologies and products aligned with National Quantum Mission’s Quantum Sensing and Metrology vertical.” 

Dr. Harrick Vin, Chief Technology Officer, TCS, said, “The Second Quantum Revolution is progressing at an unprecedented speed, making it imperative to pool our resources and expertise to build cutting-edge capabilities in sensing, computing, and communication technologies. This initiative will have a transformative impact on various industries and society, with applications ranging from electronics to healthcare, and beyond. By working together, we can drive innovation and create a brighter future for all.”

‘We are keen to collaborate with industry’

The collaboration between TCS and IIT-Bombay is aligned with the National Quantum Mission — an initiative by the Government of India to position the nation as a global quantum technology leader.

Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director, IIT-Bombay, said, “This collaboration aims to develop a quantum imaging platform for the non-destructive examination of chips. We are keen to collaborate with industry to translate the ideas, innovations and research into the technologies and products through such collaborations as well as start-ups that will take India ahead.”

Wide application

As semiconductors continue to shrink in size, traditional sensing methods lack the precision and capabilities to detect anomalies in chips. The Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager can image magnetic fields, enabling a non-invasive and non-destructive mapping of semiconductor chips, much like an MRI at a hospital.

It uses the defects in a diamond’s structure, known as Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centres, together with the other hardware and software for detecting and characterizing anomalies in semiconductor chips. The diagnostic capabilities will have significant implications for failure analysis, device development, and various optimisation processes, Mr. Kedare explained.

With its advanced capabilities to identify chip defects such as current leakages and enable visualisation of three-dimensional charge flow in multi-layer chips, Quantum Diamond Microchip Imager is a leap forward in semiconductor imaging.

It will have wide applications in microelectronics, biological, and geological imaging, and fine-scale imaging of magnetic fields, among others. This project builds on TCS and IIT-Bombay’s dynamic partnership since the 1990s, spanning joint research projects, collaborative education programs, internships, faculty development programs, and more. IIT-Bombay was the first institute to be signed as an academic partner for TCS’ Co-Innovation Network, a platform driving industry-academia collaboration for pioneering solutions. 

Mid-tier IT firms tend to focus on short-term deals aimed at helping clients cut costs rather than chase large-scale projects. Representational
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Mid-tier firms in India’s $254 billion IT sector took market share from industry goliaths in recent quarters as clients curtailed discretionary spending amid inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty, analysts said.

Unlike larger rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, mid-tier IT firms tend to focus on short-term deals aimed at helping clients cut costs rather than chase large-scale projects.

The practice has paid off in an environment of slowing demand in prominent markets such as North America and Europe.

LTIMindtree, Coforge, Mphasis and Persistent Systems are “increasingly viewed as challengers in (winning) Fortune 500 accounts, aiding the share gain process,” Kotak Institutional Equities said.

The smaller firms could outperform larger rivals further once discretionary spending improves, Kotak analysts Kawaljeet Saluja, Sathishkumar S. and Vamshi Krishna said.

This should set mid-tier IT firms up well as they try to win more budget-conscious clients in an economic backdrop where U.S. interest rates may stay “higher for longer”.

Industry body Nasscom estimated overall revenue growth more than halved to 3.8% last financial year.

“In the current macro environment, clients are increasingly looking at service providers (that) deliver services at lower and predictable costs with better business outcomes,” said Avinash Baliga, partner at consulting firm Avasant. Persistent Systems CEO Sandeep Kalra and Mphasis CFO Manish Dugar confirmed the market- share gains.

Reliance Industries remained the country’s most valued firm. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The combined market valuation of six of the top 10 valued firms jumped ₹70,527.11 crore last week, with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) emerging as the biggest gainer.

While Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Bharti Airtel, ITC, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were the gainers, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), State Bank of India and Bajaj Finance emerged as the laggards.

Last week, the BSE benchmark climbed 287.11 points or 0.43%.

The market valuation of Reliance Industries rallied ₹22,191.43 crore to ₹15,90,408.31 crore, the most among the top 10 firms.

Hindustan Unilever added ₹17,222.5 crore taking its valuation to ₹6,04,326.62 crore.

The valuation of Bharti Airtel jumped ₹16,953.01 crore to ₹5,36,035.96 crore and that of ITC climbed ₹7,607.26 crore to ₹5,59,071.10 crore.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of ICICI Bank rose ₹4,581.64 crore to ₹6,66,639.07 crore and that of HDFC Bank went up by ₹1,971.27 crore to ₹11,65,135.58 crore.

However, the valuation of Infosys tumbled ₹19,403.04 crore to ₹5,94,252 crore and that of Tata Consultancy Services plunged by ₹18,258.67 crore to ₹13,06,391.11 crore.

The mcap of State Bank of India (SBI) declined ₹16,019.67 crore to ₹5,14,191.52 crore and that of Bajaj Finance diminished by ₹7,137.72 crore to ₹4,87,746.65 crore.

Reliance Industries remained the country’s most valued firm followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, ITC, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, and Bajaj Finance.

The bull statue at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building, in Mumbai, on July 13, 2023. Equity benchmark indices extended their rally for the seventh day running on September 11 as investors continued to remain optimistic about the domestic markets.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Equity benchmark indices extended their rally for the seventh day running on September 11 as investors continued to remain optimistic about the domestic markets.

Buying in index majors Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services also added to the winning momentum in equities.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 293.7 points to 66,892.61 in early trade. The Nifty advanced 95 points to 19,914.95.

Among the Sensex firms, HCL Technologies, Maruti, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Wipro, Nestle, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers.

IndusInd Bank and Bharti Airtel were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Shanghai quoted with gains while Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong traded lower.

The U.S. markets ended in the positive territory on September 8.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.18% to $90.49 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark had jumped 333.35 points or 0.50% to finish at 66,598.91 on September 8. The broader Nifty advanced 92.90 points or 0.47% to settle at 19,819.95.

“The G-20 Delhi declaration and India’s diplomatic triumph can trigger a continuation of the positive market mood and momentum,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In the present favourable market mood, Nifty is likely to make another attempt at a record high trying to conquer the psychological mark of 20,000, Mr. Vijayakumar said adding that however, investors have to be cautious since fundamentals do not support a sustained rise above 20,000.

“The market is ignoring worries arising out of crude at $90 a barrel,” he added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹224.22 crore on September 8, according to exchange data.