Cognizant TN headcount down by 10,000; hiring shifts to emerging cities

Cognizant’s TN transportation centre headcount has declined from astir 81,000 to astir 71,000, arsenic hiring momentum shifts to cities specified arsenic Indore, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, wherever stronger integer and BPO penetration is driving growth.The simplification of 10,000 employees astatine its India office marks a important driblet successful wide headcount. Within Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore remains a cardinal secondary hub with astir 16,000 employees. For implicit 3 decades, Cognizant’s Chennai basal has been cardinal to occupation instauration successful the state’s IT sector.The moderation successful headcount could gully attraction up of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, wherever employment procreation and the state’s competitiveness successful attracting ample exertion investments are expected to beryllium cardinal issues.

An email sent to Cognizant didn't elicit a effect till property time.India continues to relationship for astir 90% of Cognizant’s full transportation centre space. Within the country, Chennai remains its largest hub with astir 7 cardinal sft, followed by Hyderabad (3 cardinal sft), Pune (2 cardinal sft), Kolkata (2 cardinal sft) and Bengaluru (2 cardinal sft). However, Chennai’s footprint has declined from 8 cardinal sft to 7 cardinal sft implicit the past year.

Last year, Cognizant sold a 13.6-acre spot successful Thoraipakkam for Rs 612 crore, a tract that had served arsenic a cardinal basal for implicit 2 decades.The institution is besides expanding elsewhere, with plans to acceptable up a caller field connected a 22-acre tract astatine Kapuluppada IT Hills successful Visakhapatnam. The project, backed by the Andhra Pradesh government, volition spot an concern of Rs 1,583 crore and is expected to make much than 8,000 jobs implicit 3 phases.Cognizant’s full headcount roseate by 1,800 successful the December 4th to 351,600 employees, portion attrition eased to 13.9% from 14.5% successful the erstwhile quarter. The institution added 14,000 employees successful 2025, including astir 20,000 schoolhouse graduates, and plans to summation hiring by astir 20% to 24,000–25,000 recruits successful 2026, reflecting continued absorption connected entry-level talent.