This article was originally published in the Brand Finance India 100 2026.
TCS continues to strengthen its position as India's most valuable IT Services brand, combining its Indian heritage with global technology leadership to help enterprises navigate large-scale business transformation. As artificial intelligence reshapes how organisations compete and how brands are experienced, TCS is investing in AI-led innovation while remaining anchored in the trust, certainty, and long-term relationships that have defined its business for decades. Kelly Ryan, Global Chief Brand Officer, TCS, shares how the company is building enduring brand value through a clear global narrative, purposeful innovation, strategic sponsorships, and a human-centred approach to AI that keeps trust and differentiation at the heart of its brand.
Interview with Kelly Ryan, Global Chief Brand Officer
Global Chief Brand Officer, Tata Consultancy Services
Congratulations on TCS being named India’s most valuable IT Services brand in the Brand Finance India 100 2026. What does this recognition mean in the market where the TCS brand was born and scaled, and what makes your brand unique?
Since 1968, TCS has grown in step with the rise of brand India, becoming one of the clearest expressions of India’s technology leadership on the world stage. Recognition in India carries particular significance because this is where our journey began, where our talent base was built, and where the values that continue to define us first took shape.
Being part of the Tata group, recognised by Brand Finance as India’s most valuable brand, gives us a value system that clients, partners, and communities recognise and trust. It anchors the way we think about business and the communities we serve.
What makes TCS distinct is not only scale. It is the ability to bring certainty to complex transformations. We are a brand born in India but designed for the world. The combination of Indian heritage, global capability, and consistent trust continues
to define TCS today.
IT Services is a high-trust, long-cycle B2B category. How has TCS built brand value beyond delivery excellence?
The TCS brand journey has been deliberate and sustained. After our IPO in 2004, we began investing in the brand more intentionally. A Brand Finance audit in 2010 showed our brand value had reached USD2.3 billion, but awareness among business
executives globally was only 33%. It told us our reputation for delivery was strong, but broader visibility had to catch up. Today, Brand Finance values the TCS brand at USD21.1 billion.
The shift was to move from being seen primarily as a technology delivery partner to being understood as a transformation partner to the world’s leading enterprises. That required a clearer global narrative, closer alignment between marketing, sales and delivery, and stronger proof of the outcomes we create for clients.
AI has become central to that journey. We have set an ambition to become the world’s largest AI-led technology services company, with more than 5,500 AI engagements, AI-ready data centre infrastructure such as HyperVault, and what we believe to be the world’s largest AI hackathon. For a services business, that matters because our people are the brand in front of clients every day.
We have also chosen platforms where AI can be experienced. In marathons, TCS RunConcierge and the TCS Future Athlete Project bring AI and digital twins into the runner experience. In Formula E, the world’s first net-zero sport from inception, our partnership with Jaguar TCS Racing gives us a live innovation environment for testing technologies, like AI, data, and digital twins that support the future of sustainable mobility. Together, these sponsorships turn TCS technology capability into visible, credible brand proof.
AI is reshaping how brands are built, experienced, and measured. How should business leaders navigate the opportunity while protecting trust, creativity, and differentiation?
AI is turning every interaction into a brand moment. Every brand will increasingly be experienced through AI-enabled touchpoints, from content and search to service, sales and employee interactions. This means AI will directly shape trust, consistency, and differentiation.
The biggest risk is sameness. Brands may become faster but less distinctive. Used well, AI should make a brand more relevant and responsive. It should not make it sound, feel, or behave like everyone else.
This is why the future is Human + AI. AI can help marketers understand audiences more deeply, move faster, and personalise at scale. The brands that win will use AI to amplify what makes them distinctive, not dilute it.
For TCS, this is a natural space. We sit at the intersection of technology, business transformation, and trust. Our role is to help clients move from experimentation to enterprise-scale adoption, ensuring AI strengthens the brand rather than fragmenting it. In the AI era, trusted brands will matter more, not less.
