BENGALURU, May 19 -- A month after completing its biggest retrenchment exercise, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) asked managers to classify roughly 5% of employees in the company's lowest performance band during the latest appraisal cycle, according to an internal email reviewed by Mint and confirmed by an executive. The move has triggered fresh anxiety inside India's largest software exporter because many employees laid off in the recent 12,200-person workforce reduction were placed in the same band, according to executives familiar with the process. "Please review critically and share the list of associates who can be considered for Band D, thereby meeting the agreed 5% distribution," said an email from a TCS human resources (HR) executive to a business unit head in April. According to three other executives, business unit heads classified about 3% of employees, or roughly 17,500 people, as underperformers. Top performers received salary hikes of about 6%, according to annual compensation letters sent on Sunday. To be sure, information technology (IT) companies like TCS, Infosys and HCL Technologies have been known to classify some employees as underperformers. However, executives said the explicit instruction to meet a 5% Band D distribution marks a significant shift from earlier appraisal cycles, when low ratings were not tied to a formal quota. "Until last year, it was understood that many employees would be placed in Band D, as in other IT companies," one of the three executives cited earlier said on condition of anonymity. "But for HR to insist that we have to put 5% of employees as underperformers is a first." The executive said the rise of AI and pricing pressure on contracts have led the company to focus on maintaining profitability. "Keeping a check on staff costs is one of the main levers available," the executive said, adding that it was not easy for business unit heads to assign employees to the lowest band. An email sent to TCS on 12 May seeking comment went unanswered till press time. A second executive, who received a D rating last year, said placement in Band D carries immediate financial and career consequences, including cuts in salary and variable pay. "We are also released from the project and have to find another one. We are generally placed on a two-month performance improvement plan, during which we must demonstrate our competency. If the employee cannot, they are shown the door," said the executive. "Now if employees are put in the D-band, their fear of another round of retrenchment might increase." A third executive, who has been marked as an under-performer this year, said, "I had rejected my band (D), after which the HR sent an email to my manager to set up a call with me to discuss the reasons. Nothing has happened and I am now searching for a new job before my salary is reduced and I'm told to leave."...