“Our operation in Hungary has changed significantly and dramatically, not just in the head count, but in the range of services that we provide, the way we provide those services, and how we have developed the other parts of our operations in Europe,” Datta tells the Budapest Business Journal in an exclusive interview.

The Budapest headquarters (spread across three buildings on the same street) serves more than 100 customers with a wide range of services. Today, you’ll find TCS all over the globe, but Datta, who moved to Hungary in 2015, is very clear about where it began.

“Hungary was the first center outside India for TCS. Our whole nearshore concept started in Hungary, developing to become a global network delivery model with 40-odd centers around the world. But the genesis was here,” he says.

Technological support is still a core part of what the business provides, he says, “whether it is cloud, AI, data, or cybersecurity. We also have support services like business processes, finance, accounting, and HR. We do a lot of work in the digital workplace. We have people from 90 different nationalities.”

For all of TCS’ renowned technical expertise, it is those people who are at the very heart of its model for success. The approach is simple: find the talent, train the talent, future-proof the talent.

“One of the main factors was to look at different channels for finding the talent, and that continues to be a focus. We are also very big on in-house talent development. We will continue to do more of that to make sure that the people we already have are upskilled and ready to tackle the new world,” Datta explains.

One much-voiced concern for businesses already operating in Hungary is whether they can continue to find suitably qualified graduates in sufficient numbers, given the declining population rate and near-full employment.

Education Award

“We already work with universities to help shape their output to match market reality. This year, we got an award for best university education program. This is something we will continue to do in the future.” But TCS is not simply waiting until students are in tertiary education.

“We also work with high school students to make them more aware of digital AI technologies when they are still in school, and that they can choose this as a career,” Datta explains. There are also campaigns to get more girls studying STEM subjects and, appropriately for an Indian company, a partnership with the Gandhi Gimnázium (Gandhi Secondary School) in Pécs, southern Hungary. The first Roma minority secondary school in Europe, it has been operating since 1994 to support Roma students, preserve the language and culture, and improve access to higher education.

“My previous experience tells me that growth solves a lot of problems, right? If you’re able to grow, you can give more opportunities to people, and that leads to more growth,” Datta says. He also thinks that today’s employees, as the “mouthpiece of the organization,” are an important element in securing the workforce of tomorrow.

“My personal belief is that we should build our system on equality, and then diversity will be taken care of,” he argues. Human understanding is, therefore, a vital watchword for recruitment, retention, and brand.

“That focus on empathy is what we had from the beginning, while we were creating competencies, creating efficiencies, exploring a lot of different channels to recruit talent. We looked at the things we needed to do to make us more attractive to our customers, but also to other stakeholders,” he says.

Working with what he describes as a “multicultural, multigenerational talent pool,” Datta says the firm needs to keep that empathy and closeness to its employees.

There was a period when all anyone with an IT background talked about was “migrating to the Cloud.” Now, AI is the next big thing. TCS saw its potential early and has pursued a policy of training staff on it so that a) they do not fear the technology and what it might do to their position, but rather can benefit from it, and b) so the business can get ahead of the curve in supporting their clients’ AI needs.

Training for Adaptability

“In January 2020, we opened this office. Our COO visited at that time and said in his speech, five years ago, that ‘artificial intelligence is here to stay.’ That is when we started thinking how we could take advantage of it.” Datta argues that it is important that employees learn adaptability, but also that employers give them the tools to retrain and upskill so they can deploy that adaptability.

“Empathy helps us to address this uncertainty and fear and say, ‘We are all in it together.’ Nobody knows the end state, because it’s continuously evolving, but we can all try to adapt. Our chairman said that AI is not just a technology. It’s a generational shift. It is a significant change in the way of doing things, especially when AI is combined with other technologies.”

And the next big thing? Beyond “applying AI to everything,” Datta suggests it could well be quantum computing.

“There is a state in India that is already investing in creating a  Quantum Valley Tech Park , in the way that IT Parks were established in the early 1990s for software development. TCS is one of the early investors and partners.”

If that’s yet to come, what has been the highlight of his past decade in Hungary? Datta is quick to point to the growth of the firm in Hungary. His regional role keeps him busy with travel (he says he has made at least one trip every week this year), but he adds that exploring is one of his great passions, and he views this as a “side perk” of his work. He was twice nominated for the Expat CEO of the Year Award. There is no doubt about the top highlight, however.

“If I have to choose one thing out of everything, it would probably be the recognition that I received last year, because I think that’s the ultimate,” he says, referring to the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary which was presented to him at the Business Services Hungary 2025 conference by Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Levente Magyar. And his plans for the future?

“In general, we don’t say that we want to double this or triple that, because the head count itself is not a measure anymore. It is more about the services we’re providing, the capability we have created, and the credibility we have established and how we stay perpetually adaptive.”

This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of March 27, 2026.