In e-commerce, GenAI is used to generate product catalogs, provide a conversational shopping experience and deliver personalized offers, Chandrasekaran said.
In manufacturing, GenAI enables workers to troubleshoot complex equipment by asking questions in their native language, thereby making infrastructure availability high and improving productivity, he said.
Businesses are also using GenAI to analyze large documents such as tender documents to significantly reduce the sales cycle, Chandrasekaran said.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and GenAI will cause Job Loss in some areas, but will create job opportunities in other areas, he said.
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Stating that all industries will be affected, the TCS The president highlighted that the impact of the consumer industry will be more visible because consumers will feel the power of AI through personalization and better delivery with experience. Recently, TCS Managing Director K Krithivasan wrote to his employees that the company has built one of the largest and most artificial intelligence-ready workforces in the world.
Chandrasekaran said there was no decline in IT spending. But the spending is phased, he said.
Technology Spending for all businesses will only increase due to megatrends such as digital, AI, modern supply chains, secure networks and drug discovery… all of which will require significant technology spending, a- he declared.
The world is going through a geopolitical crisis or inflation, which will have a short-term impact on the IT budget, the Tata Group chairman said.
Addressing multiple questions on sexual harassment, he said TCS is a large organization operating in a global environment and it encourages a culture where employees can speak up. And in doing so, if people are being harassed, they should raise their voices and when they raise (these issues), the numbers will increase. “In a company of this size, you would expect this amount of harassment to occur. The main thing is how to deal with these cases with zero tolerance,” he said.
Additionally, Chandrasekaran said, “I don’t think we can resort to remote work to solve this problem. The company takes these calls in terms of in-person work based on a number of factors. We are not trying to create (only) jobs. We are trying to create careers. This company aims to build an institution.
Regarding questions regarding the 2014 Epic Systems lawsuit, for which TCS set aside a provision, the company’s president said: “The case has been closed, but the interest charges are still pending. The $11.5 million therefore constitutes a provision in the subsidiary and will be decided by the court in the future.
On the BSNL data center project, he said around 10,000 sites have been deployed and more will be deployed. “Our intention is to complete this project this fiscal year.”
Chandrasekaran said TCS has 601,546 employees on its payroll and another 30,312 on contract, globally.
Speaking about the negative impact of AI, he said that any technology will be misused by those who want it and this is being monitored. “That is why regulations are necessary. This industry needs to be regulated. there is no doubt. Governments around the world are aware of this and regulations will increase as we move into the future. »
On likely job losses due to AI, Chandrasekaran said that even if AI and GenAI automate things and improve productivity, there will be some impact, but in other areas it will require a lot more capabilities. “More jobs will be created in areas like data management etc… It’s a mixed picture and we need to manage that, embrace it proactively, so we can reskill people and prepare them for change” , did he declare.
TCS spent Rs 2,650 crore on capital expenditure in the last financial year. “This is less than normal as we had stopped some projects during Covid,” Chandrasekaran said. “But these investment projects are starting. We would therefore see investments increase in the years to come.
Dividends
On comments that TCS should pay an additional dividend for the 20th year, the chairman said it was “patently unreasonable”. He pointed out that TCS has been paying dividends every quarter since its IPO and also pays annual and special dividend every two years.
In response to shareholders’ disappointment over the falling stock price and returns, Chandrasekaran pointed out that the stock price itself had increased approximately 37 times since the IPO. “So for every rupee you would have invested, you would have gotten 37 times more and on top of that, the dividends and buybacks have been quite significant. Over the last five years this figure has been 100%, and even before that it was significantly higher,” he said.
