More than 91 percent of the cash generated by Tata Group IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been returned to its shareholders, said the company's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Krithi Krithivasan on Thursday, June 29, while speaking at the 28th Annual General Meeting (AGM).

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In the last five years, TCS has paid out Rs 1.75 lakh crore in regular dividends, special dividends, and buybacks, including taxes. This amounts to an average payout ratio of 98.2 percent, the new TCS chief said.

With the three interim dividends, the special dividend, and the final dividend, the company's total dividend for the full year was Rs 115 per share, which translates into a total payout of Rs 42,079 crore, representing 108.2 percent of the free cash flow during the year, Krithivasan noted in an address to the company's shareholders.

The CEO further noted that TCS recorded a strong order book throughout the year with a total contract value (TCV) of $34.1 billion, despite the macroeconomic overhang throughout the year.

"It is important to note that we exited the year with an order book of $10 billion, the strongest in the four quarters, despite the banking crisis in the US and the resultant uncertainty," he said.

TCS making significant investments in recruitment, training

Meanwhile, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons and TCS, said the company is focusing on building talent for the future. "New technologies require talent with the right skill set. Your company is making significant investments in recruitment and training," he said.

TCS onboarded more than 1,10,000 fresh engineers in FY22 and over 44,000 in FY23. "Our workforce continues to be diverse, with over 150 nationalities and with women making up 35.7 percent of the employee base. Our investments in organic talent development continue to deliver exceptional outcomes. In FY23, we logged 48.3 million hours of learning, and TCSers acquired nearly 6 million competencies," he said.

Chandrasekaran further noted that the demand for TCS' services has shown remarkable resilience amid a surge in inflation and a gloomy global economic outlook.

"This is a testimony to the strength of your company’s business model and our ability to adapt to the continuously evolving technology landscape," Chandrasekaran said.

Further, he said that TCS has a clear focus on staying relevant for its customers and creating value for all our stakeholders. "We continue to invest in our people, building new capabilities, research and innovation, and development of intellectual property. We continue to play a very important role for our clients to enable their business transformation, helping them accelerate new technology adoption and bring agility into execution," the TCS chairman said.

According to Chandrasekaran, the world is navigating through three fundamental transitions — digital and artificial intelligence transition, energy transition, and transition towards a global sustainable value chain.

"These transitions require significant investments in technology and innovation by all our clients and this offers a tremendous growth opportunity for your company," he noted.