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Some TCS employees claim lower take-home pay after appraisals: ‘Salary decreased by ₹3,000’
Employees report mixed appraisal outcomes at TCS, with top performers receiving up to 13% hikes while others face reductions in compensation.
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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rolled out average salary hikes of around 5 percent in its latest appraisal cycle on May 18. However, amid changes to annual salary structures linked to the new Labour Codes, several employees expressed concerns over lower variable pay and reduced take-home salaries.
How TCS gives salary hikes
According to a Moneycontrol report, TCS usually categorises appraisals into performance bands such as A+, A, B, and C. Higher-rated employees receive better hikes and payouts.
Employees in the top-rated A+ category said they received salary hikes between 9 percent and 13 percent. Those in the A band reported increments of around 5 percent to 9 percent.
Meanwhile, employees in the B band mostly saw hikes between 1 percent and 3.5 percent. Several employees in the C band said their hikes were either negligible or even negative.
TCS had earlier set aside ₹2,128 crore as a one-time cost to align with the new labour code requirements, which was reported in the October-December quarter.
Sources added that increments and ratings continued to follow the company’s usual bell-curve appraisal structure.
Employees claim salaries fell after appraisal
Several employees, however, claimed that their compensation had reduced after the restructuring. Some also reported that their monthly variable pay components had either reduced or shifted to quarterly or annual payouts.
“Our annual CTC had fallen by ₹1,000- ₹10,000 despite receiving appraisal letters,” one employee told Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.
“Salary actually decreased by ₹3000,” another employee claiming to belong to the C3A grade said. “Mine decreased at C band,” one employee added.
(Also read: TCS CEO K Krithivasan earned ₹28 crore in FY26 — 333x the median employee salary)
Multiple employees also alleged that performance-linked payouts were now connected to work-from-office compliance.
“Performance pay and bonus both are now calculated on the basis of WFO compliance,” another employee added.
TCS’s statement
“The revised salary structure that the employees have received are guided by three key principles that include, compliance with the new labour codes, standardisation of wage structures across our India workforce, and protection of employees’ take-home salary, while allowing flexibility for tax efficiency,” a TCS spokesperson told Moneycontrol.
“TCS has consistently maintained a track record of awarding annual increments to its associate’s year-on-year, reinforcing its commitment to employee growth and long-term value creation,” the spokesperson added.
