AI is now becoming infrastructure of intelligence, says TCS chairman N Chandrasekaran

Bengaluru: Artificial Intelligence is now becoming the infrastructure of intelligence. It will influence how enterprises invest, organise supply chains, manage risk, and serve stakeholders, Tata Consultancy Services Chairman N Chandrasekaran said.

In his letter to the shareholders in the TCS Annual Report FY26, Chandrasekaran said GenAI and agentic AI are entering a new phase of growth. AI will not just be a layer but will be the operating foundation. Customers will move from pilots to scale, embedding AI into core functions, he said.

The chairman said the company is working with customers across industries in their AI-led transformation.

TCS will prioritise efforts across four areas including building AI operating systems for industries, to accelerate deployment of agentic AI solutions.

FY 2026 marked an inflection point for enterprise AI. For the first time since GenAI emerged in 2023, customers moved decisively from pilots to scaled deployments, TCS CEO and MD K Krithivasan said.

He added that AI became central to every conversation and every solution, accelerating adoption across industries. To strengthen the company's differentiation and competitive edge, we must be deeply embedded in the AI ecosystem and operate with both speed and scale, the CEO said.

"To do this, we are following a Build-Partner-Acquire approach. Alongside continued organic investment in our capabilities, we will deepen partnerships with leading AI ecosystem players, acquire world-class organisations, and launch new ventures," the CEO told shareholders.

TCS CEO earns Rs 28 crore in FY26, 333 times the median employee salary

TCS CEO and MD K Krithivasan's remuneration in FY6 saw a 6.3 per cent y-o-y increase to Rs 28.1 crore. The compensation is 332.8 times the median salary of TCS employees. His total package includes salary of Rs 1.676 crore, benefits, perquisites and allowances of Rs 1.437 crore and commission of Rs 25 crore. In FY25, Krithivasan took home Rs 26.52 crore. After taking charge as the CEO and MD of TCS on June 1, 2023, he took home about Rs 25.36 crore salary in FY24.

The company's ED-President and COO Aarthi Subramanian took home Rs 18.33 crore in FY26.

According to the annual report, the percentage increase in the median remuneration of employees in the financial year is 5.1 per cent. The number of permanent employees on the rolls of the company are 5,84,519.

Also, the average annual increase for junior and mid-level employees was in the range of 4.5 - 7.0 per cent, with top performers receiving double digit increments in India. However, during the course of the year, the total increase is in the range of 5.0 - 8.0 per cent, after accounting for promotions and other event-based compensation revisions. Junior and mid-level employees outside India received a wage increase varying from 1.5 - 6.0 per cent, the company disclosed in the annual report.