India, July 28 -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT services firm, is set to fire nearly 12,000 employees - around 2% of its global workforce - in what is being described as one of the most significant workforce restructurings in the company's history. Contrary to industry speculation, the layoffs are not driven by artificial intelligence (AI)-induced automation or productivity gains, the tech giant said.

TCS CEO and MD K Krithivasan, in an interview with Moneycontrol, firmly dispelled the notion that the job cuts are a result of AI replacing human workers. "This is not because of AI giving some 20% productivity gains. We are not doing that," Krithivasan said. "This is driven by where there is a skill mismatch or where ...