Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is creating 5,000 jobs in the UK and talking up its contribution to the economy amid growing UK and India trade ties. The additional staff will take TCS’s UK workforce to 27,000, about 5% of its global workforce of just more than 600,000.
With trade ties between India and the UK growing, Indian IT services companies will look to benefit. These suppliers have a significant chunk of corporate sector business with most of the UK’s largest firms outsourcing to them already.
Jason Stockwood, UK government minister for investment, said: “As a valued investor for the UK, Tata Group and its companies like TCS are central to this mission which ultimately will create jobs, put money in people’s pockets and deliver economic growth across both countries.”
Despite their impressive UK customer lists, there is a huge relatively untapped market in the UK public sector for India’s IT suppliers. Traditionally, there were fears that UK jobs were being offshored to India. With huge numbers of people working in the UK public sector, governments were reluctant to use Indian suppliers for fear of a backlash. There were also security concerns regarding public sector data residing in Indian datacentres.
But today, the suppliers have large UK presences and IT infrastructures. Speaking to Computer Weekly about TCS’s UK public sector plans last year, Amit Kapur, its UK country head, said there was “potential, paucity and action” with “good engagement”.
TCS has also announced the findings of a report it commissioned which outlined the supplier’s contribution to the UK economy. The findings of the Oxford Economics study reveal that contrary to taking jobs from the UK, TCS supports 42,700 jobs either directly or through its supply chain across 19 sites in the UK, with 15,300 employees working in technology positions such as engineering and data analytics.
It revealed that in 2024, TCS contributed £3.3bn to the UK economy and supported a total tax contribution of more than £780m. In the public sector, TCS already provides services to the Department of Work and Pensions, pension provider Nest, the Department for Education, the BBC, and Cardiff City Council.
TCS is not alone in looking towards more UK government work. This week fellow Indian supplier Infosys announced a £1.2bn, 15-year HR services contract with the NHS. Prior to that deal, the supplier had just £7.45m in live UK public sector contracts.
And it’s not just the biggest Indian players getting in on the act. Tier two supplier Hexaware recently expanded its UK presence through a new office in London’s Canary Wharf, as part of an expansion plan that it said will see it bid for UK public sector business.
In response to TCS announcing a new operation in London, Nick Mayes, principal analyst at industry analyst firm PAC, said: “This latest investment from TCS reinforces its position as the leading provider of critical digital services in the UK. TCS serves a diverse portfolio of clients across critical sectors including financial services, retail, manufacturing, life sciences and public services in the UK.”
