TCS Nashik campus case casts shadow on firm’s plan to open offices in small towns, cities: Report

TCS Nashik campus case: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is reassessing its strategy of opening offices in smaller towns and cities after the workplace harassment case at its Nashik office highlighted the challenges of managing dispersed operations, as per a report.

According to a report in Mint, the company will take a fresh look at plans to expand through smaller centres, TCS chairman N. Chandrasekaran told shareholders at the company's 31st annual general meeting on Tuesday, suggesting that the incident has prompted a rethink of the firm's footprint strategy.

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He said they “definitely want to grow” in their key locations, but they have learnt a lesson from the recent happenings that they cannot have “sub-optimal centres”.

According to him, maintaining offices with 100-200 employees is difficult and can increase risk exposure. His remarks come against the backdrop of a harassment case at the company's customer support office in Nashik that raised concerns about workplace safety and oversight in smaller centres.

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Employees at the Nashik office filed police complaints in April against colleagues, alleging sexual harassment, psychological abuse and religious coercion over a four-year period ending in 2026. Nashik police subsequently formed a special investigation team and arrested seven employees, including team leaders and human resources executives. The investigation is ongoing.

The issue continued to dominate discussions at Tuesday's AGM, with at least a fifth of the 42 shareholders present questioning management on the incident and workplace safety measures, the report added.

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Chandrasekaran reiterated that the company had not received any formal complaints through its internal channels. He said the company wanted all employees at the Nashik workplace to be able to speak to investigators so that a complete picture could emerge, as per the report.

TCS has launched multiple probes into the matter. A high-level internal inquiry, announced two months ago, is being led by chief operating officer Aarthi Subramanian. Separately, the company has appointed a legal firm and an accounting consulting firm to conduct an independent investigation into records, procedures, processes and possible gaps. The committee overseeing the review is chaired by independent director Keki Mistry.