TCS Profit Rose 15% to ₹13,884 Crore While Attrition Fell to 13.3%: Will IT Pay Rises and Hiring Follow?

Tata Consultancy Services reported consolidated net profit of ₹13,884 crore for the September 2026 quarter, up about 15% year on year, and trailing 12-month IT Services attrition of 13.3%, according to DSIJ. The company added 4,258 employees to reach 598,056. Lower attrition and a growing headcount do not by themselves signal bigger pay rises, and the results coverage contains no new pay announcement.

What did TCS report for Q2 FY27?

TCS reported Q2 FY27 results on 8 October 2026. DT Next (IANS) puts net profit at ₹13,884 crore, up 4% from ₹13,349 crore in the June quarter. Revenue from operations was ₹73,188 crore, up 1.3% quarter on quarter and 11.2% year on year, per IIFL.

The company also declared a second interim dividend of ₹12 per share, with a record date of 14 October 2026.

Did profit really rise 15%?

Yes, on the base DSIJ uses (₹12,075 crore), the ₹13,884 crore figure is a rise of about 15% year on year. DT Next (IANS), IIFL and DSIJ all report ₹13,884 crore.

One caution on the quarterly comparison: DT Next says June-quarter profit included an exceptional loss of ₹668 crore tied to a legal claim settlement. That makes the 4% quarter-on-quarter rise look larger than the underlying trend. Operating margin was 24%, per IIFL.

What happened to TCS attrition?

TCS's trailing 12-month attrition in IT Services was 13.3% at the end of September 2026, per DT Next (IANS). Business Today reports it fell from 13.6% in Q1, a drop of 0.3 percentage points.

That is a small move. The same article quotes Chief HR Officer Sudeep Kunnumal saying attrition "remained stable at 13.3%." Reading this as a sharp fall overstates it. Reading it as a stable, low-teens rate is closer to what the company itself said.

Note the definition. Trailing 12-month attrition counts people who left in the past year, not the last quarter alone, so it moves slowly. IIFL describes the 13.3% figure as voluntary attrition in IT Services.

How many people is TCS hiring?

TCS added a net 4,258 employees in the quarter, taking headcount to 598,056, according to Business Today. Q1 added about 9,279, so first-half net additions were 13,537. TCS ended FY26 at 584,519 employees, per Business Today's April report.

Business Today also reports that TCS had issued around 25,000 offers at the start of FY27, and that about 14,000 freshers had joined by the end of Q1. These are company-reported figures. For the fresher angle, see our companion post on TCS headcount and freshers.

Kunnumal's stated approach: "We continue to build a future-ready workforce through upskilling our employees and hiring top talent." Learning hours rose 17% sequentially to 17.1 million, per the same report.

Does lower attrition mean fewer vacancies and fewer lateral jobs?

Mechanically, yes: each resignation opens a seat, and fewer resignations mean fewer seats to backfill. This is analysis, not a figure TCS reported, and TCS has not published a breakdown of how many hires are replacements versus growth.

The numbers do not show hiring drying up. Headcount grew by 13,537 net in six months, which means gross hiring exceeded exits. A 13.3% attrition rate on a base near 598,000 is a large number of departures in absolute terms, so backfill demand remains. TCS has not disclosed how many of the 13,537 additions were experienced hires versus campus hires.

For a job seeker, the practical read is that lateral openings at TCS depend more on project demand than on resignations. The segment data points to uneven demand: in constant currency, IIFL reports BFSI up 2.5% quarter on quarter, while Consumer fell 0.7% and Energy, resources and utilities fell 0.5%. India revenue fell 10.3% quarter on quarter.

Will TCS employees get bigger pay rises?

There is no new pay announcement in the Q2 coverage. The FY27 cycle was already announced in April 2026, when Kunnumal said, "We are pleased to implement annual salary increases across all grades effective (from) April 1," per Business Today. That report gave no percentage.

So the next cycle is the question. Whether lower attrition softens pressure to pay more is a reasonable hypothesis, since employers raise pay partly to retain people. It is not something TCS has said, and the 0.3-point change is too small to treat as a signal.

What does support pay is profit: revenue grew 11.2% year on year, and operating margin was 24%. Companies can afford raises when margins are healthy. Whether TCS chooses to is not disclosed.

What does this mean for IT job seekers?

For freshers and experienced hires, the useful signals are headcount direction and demand, not attrition alone.

1. Check headcount quarterly. Three straight quarters of net additions is the clearest hiring signal in the data.
2. Look at your segment. BFSI and manufacturing-linked demand grew faster than consumer and energy in the quarter.
3. Compare peers. Our post on Infosys Q2 FY27 results and headcount covers what peer numbers will show.
4. Watch the wider market. US layoff filings affect client budgets; see US WARN notices data.
5. Apply on TCS's own careers site, not through third-party reposts.

What's still unclear?

• Whether attrition fell or held. Business Today reports a move from 13.6% to 13.3%, while the CHRO called it stable.
• The split of hires. TCS has not published how many of the 13,537 additions were campus versus experienced, or replacement versus growth.
• The next pay cycle. No size or timing has been announced for increments after April 2026.
• Peer comparison. This post does not compare TCS attrition with other Indian IT firms, because their September-quarter figures were not yet available.
• The weakest link in the argument. Linking lower attrition to fewer lateral vacancies is inference. The data show headcount rising at the same time.