TATA Consulting Services CEO K. Krithivasan indicated the company will halt new H-1B recruitment and shift toward hiring locally in the US and other priority markets. TCS remains the largest US H-1B employer with 98,259 hires from 2009 to 2025, including 5,505 in 2025. He said the US already has sufficient H-1 staff, renewals will be selective, and local participation will rise, linked to AI work that needs client proximity and broader skill mixes, similar to TCS’s high local staffing in Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
Analysts read this as a wider pivot in visa strategies. They expect companies such as Amazon, Cognizant, and Microsoft to favor L-1 transfers to avoid about 100,000 dollars per H-1B applicant, reducing fresh H-1B demand and speeding a move to L-1 routes for US roles.