MUMBAI: Words can change worlds and for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the past 25 years have been proof enough. On World Literacy Day, the IT giant marked a milestone: a quarter-century of its flagship Literacy as a Service (LaaS) initiative, which began life in 2000 under the vision of Dr F C Kohli as a modest adult literacy programme and has since grown into a global movement of empowerment.
The numbers tell a compelling story. Over the years, 2.85 million learners across 21 Indian states, union territories, and parts of Africa have been equipped with functional, financial and digital literacy. In FY25 alone, LaaS reached more than 412,000 learners, powered by a vast network of 241,000 plus facilitators. The ripple effect extends far beyond classrooms: from helping rural women run small businesses to ensuring families understand their rights and claim welfare entitlements.
In Andhra Pradesh, for example, TCS has partnered with the government to empower 400,000 women across 26 districts, blending financial know-how with digital skills. The platform itself has kept pace with the times available in nine Indian and three foreign languages, it uses graphics, sound patterns, vernacular content, and even AI-powered personalisation to ensure inclusivity for first-generation learners and under-served groups.
Beyond the basics of reading and writing, the curriculum now stretches into life-relevant areas: financial literacy, digital adoption, awareness of citizen entitlements, and even disaster preparedness. The impact is visible in small but powerful ways from managing household finances to bridging the digital divide and building resilience in crises.
The initiative has also been amplified by the “Each One Empowers One” campaign, where TCS and Tata Group associates mentor individuals within their communities, creating a multiplier effect. Social inclusion, economic participation, and self-confidence have all been central outcomes of this effort making literacy not just a skill, but a springboard for dignity and opportunity.
TCS Joseph global head of CSR Sunil Nallapalli called it a movement rather than a programme: literacy as the seed of generational change. And after 25 years, those seeds have taken root in millions of lives, creating not just readers, but leaders.
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