TCS to shut Lucknow centre, says no job losses, staff to be relocated

TCS is setting up a large BPO operation in Varanasi next year, some staff could be absorbed there

India's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services is shutting its Lucknow centre as part of the consolidation of its UP operations and has asked its over 1,000-odd employees to either shift to its centre in Noida, Indore or any other facility in the country

"We are consolidating our UP operations. There have neither been any job losses nor have we asked anyone to quit," said a TCS spokesperson.

TCS is also setting up a large BPO operation in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency next year and some of these staff could  be absorbed in the centre.

The 10-year old facility in Gomti Nagar, does  internal process for TCS and has a small team that works on projects for  global clients.

TCS employees in Lucknow were briefed about the development  on Wednesday, following which they have petitioned UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Modi  for their intervention.

A  group calling themselves SaveTCSPlease has drafted a letter to these leaders claiming that around 2,000 employees, half of them women, would be affected by this shift by TCS.

The letter signed by "TCS Lucknow employees and their dependents" said that around 300-400 employees will be retained in the Lucknow premises and that most of the existing projects will be transferred to the upcoming premises in Indore. They have alleged that employees are being forced to transfer to other cities now.

While TCS has maintained that there are no job losses, it is also reflection of the pressure Indian IT firms are under to cut costs and maintain profitability in an uncertain environment. Indian firms such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra are facing multiple challenges such as technology shifts towards cloud and digital, growing automation that is taking away of low end jobs and protectionism in developed markets.

All of these companies have begun restructuring their operations, some of them asking people to go citing failing performance metrics.