Lucknow: IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has decided to close its operations centre in Lucknow, sources in the company told News18.

TCS vice president Tej Paul Bhatla was in Lucknow on Wednesday, where he met and asked project managers to finish their programmes by December or shift to the centres in Indore, Noida and continue working there. The project managers have also been asked to convey the message to their team members.

The company’s move is set to put the more than 2000 IT professionals, working at the TCS Lucknow centre, in jeopardy. With almost 50% of those working in the centre being females, living with their families in Lucknow, finding a new job or shifting to a new city might will be an immense challenge for them.

As per the highly placed sources in the company, the operations were not profitable for the company and the revision of the rent contract of TCS Lucknow’s premises added to the woes. The 10-year lease, which expired in May 2017, was extended for another 11 months after failed negotiations between the builder and the company. TCS Lucknow currently houses in Awadh Park, located in the Vibhuti Khand area of Gomti Nagar in Lucknow.

Regional Head of TCS, Amitabh Tewari had earlier dismissed the news of lease expiry. When News18 tried to contact him, Tewari was not available for comment.

A few employees have allegedly written a letter to UP CM Yogi Adityanath and raised questions about how a company earning Rs 25,000 crore in profits could be short of funds. The employees have asked for an inquiry into the matter and stated that the company was not going to invest a rupee in Varanasi, but were looking to outsource it.

Reacting to the report, TCS came out with an official statement and said, “The Lucknow centre had less than 1000 employees. It was not a convenient place for client related work. TCS is looking to consolidate its operations in Uttar Pradesh and the current Lucknow workforce will shift its operations to Noida and Varanasi. All employees will be relocated, no one will be fired.”