India's TCS urging staff to use AI despite risk to revenue, CEO says

By Haripriya Suresh

MUMBAI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services is urging employees to use artificial intelligence tools ‌to deliver work faster and cheaper, even if it ‌eats into the company's revenue, the CEO of India's largest software-services provider ​said on Wednesday.

The comments come as investor concerns about AI disrupting the Indian IT sector's traditional, labour-heavy operating model have wiped off about $68.6 billion market value in February.

"We are telling ‌associates that if you ⁠find that you can do something faster, better, cheaper with AI, you should probably go ⁠and tell your customers, even if it cannibalises revenue," CEO K Krithivasan said at the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum in ​Mumbai.

"We ​are not afraid this technology ​will take away our livelihood. ‌We believe it is going to open up more, so you enjoy the benefits the more you do, and not by resisting the change," he said.

TCS' stance mirrors that of smaller rival Wipro, which expects rapid AI adoption to ‌boost rather than shrink demand for ​software service providers. Wipro Chief Strategist ​and Technology Officer ​Hari Shetty told Reuters he expects AI to ‌create more jobs than it ​displaces.

India's Nifty IT ​index fell 21% this month as of Tuesday's close, putting it on course for its worst monthly performance ​in nearly 23 ‌years.

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh in Mumbai; Additional reporting by ​Bharath Rajeswaran; Writing by Kashish Tandon; Editing by ​Dhanya Skariachan and Mrigank Dhaniwala)