TCS Interview Process: The NQT, Interview Rounds and How to Prepare

TCS interview process explained from TCS's own pages: the 190-minute NQT, Prime, Digital and Ninja tracks, and preparation.

The "TCS interview process" is hard to research because most of what is written about it describes a test pattern from some earlier year, passed along by people who never saw the current one. Tata Consultancy Services changes the details between hiring cycles, runs separate drives for different degrees, and hires experienced people through a different portal altogether.

We wrote this for final-year students, recent graduates and experienced professionals who want to know what TCS itself says about how it hires in India. It covers the two hiring paths, the application steps, the National Qualifier Test, eligibility, the three offer categories, the interviews, what follows an offer, and how to prepare. We make Verve AI, an interview copilot, and what we say about TCS comes from its own careers and TCS iON pages as they stood in October 2026.

The summary is that entry-level engineering hiring runs through the TCS National Qualifier Test, a 190-minute test taken at a TCS iON centre, followed by interviews for one of three offer categories. TCS publishes the test sections and timings, but it does not publish the number of interview rounds or any cut-off score.

Which path does the TCS interview process follow for you?

TCS splits its India careers site into two doors, called Entry Level and Internships, and Lateral Hiring, and the two paths use different portals.

Entry-level candidates apply through the TCS NextStep portal to a named hiring drive. Engineering and computer applications graduates use the All India NQT Hiring drive, and TCS lists separate drives for its business process services unit, science graduates, MBA graduates, economics postgraduates and pharmacy graduates.

Experienced professionals use the lateral hiring page, which links to a separate job portal and groups roles by area, such as artificial intelligence, cloud, cybersecurity, and data and analytics. That page does not describe a test or a fixed sequence of interview rounds, so the steps for an experienced hire are the ones the recruiter sets out for that role.

How do you apply for the TCS NQT drive?

The TCS All India NQT Hiring page lists the application steps in order.

1. You log in to the TCS NextStep portal, or register as a new user under the category called IT.
2. You click the option called Apply For Drive, which TCS says is mandatory for your registration to count.
3. You select the skill on which you wish to be evaluated.
4. You choose the in-centre mode of test and name three preferred test centres.
5. You select three preferred job cities for a possible offer.
6. You open Track Your Application and confirm that the status reads Applied for Drive.

TCS says it sends no further confirmation email after this, and that test information comes from its test partner, TCS iON. The dates on the page belong to one cycle, which opened registration on 18 February 2026, scheduled tests from 10 March 2026 and is now marked closed.

What is on the TCS National Qualifier Test?

TCS describes the NQT as an integrated test with two parts, conducted at TCS iON centres, and it publishes the time for each section.

• The Foundation section lasts 75 minutes, split evenly between numerical, verbal and reasoning ability.
• The Advanced section lasts 115 minutes and is taken in the same sitting.
• Advanced quantitative and reasoning ability takes 25 of those minutes, and advanced coding takes 90.

TCS encourages everyone to attempt both parts, and it says the Advanced section is mandatory for anyone who wants a Digital or Prime offer. The careers page does not state how many questions each section holds, how the test is scored, or what score is needed to pass.

A second product with a similar name causes a lot of confusion. TCS iON, the company's assessment arm, sells an open test called TCS iON NQT, whose scorecard other employers can also use. Its TCS iON NQT page says scorecards are valid for two years, that the exam is taken only at authorised TCS iON centres, and that the assessment is proctored by people. That page lists 65 questions for its Foundation section and 16 for its Advanced section, plus a 30-minute psychometric test. Those numbers describe the TCS iON product, and your own invitation is the authority for a TCS hiring drive.

Who is eligible for the NQT hiring drive?

For the 2026 cycle, TCS opened the drive to the graduating batches of 2024, 2025 and 2026 with engineering, technology, computer applications or science master's degrees from recognised institutions. It published these further conditions on the same page.

• Candidates needed a minimum aggregate of 60 percent in class 10, class 12, diploma, graduation and post-graduation.
• No pending backlog was permitted at the time of the selection process.
• The overall academic gap could not exceed 24 months, and every gap had to be declared.
• Candidates could have up to two years of work experience and had to be aged 18 to 28.

What are the Prime, Digital and Ninja categories?

Your test performance decides which of three interview tracks you qualify for, and each track leads to a different kind of work. TCS describes Prime as complex projects with advanced technologies and algorithms, Digital as solution development and integration, and Ninja as application development and maintenance.

TCS is unusual in publishing pay for these categories on the same page, with separate figures for Prime, Digital and Ninja offers, and it notes that actual compensation depends on experience and location. The figures are set for each hiring cycle, so read them on TCS's page for the cycle you are applying to.

What happens in the TCS interviews?

TCS publishes much less about the interviews than about the test. Shortlisted candidates are contacted on their registered email address, and TCS says you are then evaluated predominantly on the skill you chose, in addition to what it calls the usual course of interview.

The hiring page does not name the rounds, say how many there are, or state whether they are held in person or by video. A TCS company article on the NQT says the firm built video interviews into entry-level hiring after the test, so your invitation will tell you the format.

One requirement is stated clearly on the page, which is that you must bring your original academic documents, covering class 10, class 12 and every degree, because TCS verifies originals at the interview and again at joining.

What does TCS say about fake job offers?

TCS runs a dedicated recruitment fraud alert page, and the NQT page repeats its main points. The company says it never asks for money or a security deposit at any stage, that hiring emails come only from its own domain and never from free email services, and that no external agency conducts interviews or makes offers on its behalf. TCS also protects offer letters for IT hires with an offer verification tool, so a genuine offer can be checked before you act on it.

What happens after a TCS offer?

TCS says the offer is valid only if your degree certificate shows that you completed the course in first class within the stipulated duration.

Fresh graduates then join the Initial Learning Program, which TCS describes as in-person training that bridges academic knowledge and industry requirements. TCS names the values it expects new joiners to carry as learning and sharing, integrity, respect for the individual, excellence and leading change.

How should you prepare for TCS?

The published pattern gives you a clear order of work.

1. Check the eligibility rules first, because TCS reviews them again at every stage.
2. Practise numerical, verbal and reasoning questions against a 25-minute clock for each section.
3. Give coding the most time, since advanced coding is the longest section at 90 minutes.
4. Choose your registration skill carefully, because the interview concentrates on it.
5. Collect your original mark sheets and certificates well before the interview date.

If you are applying to several employers, our guides to the Infosys interview process and the Cognizant interview process cover how those companies differ.

How does Verve AI help with TCS interviews?

The interviews are the part of the process that TCS describes least. Verve AI's mock interviews are spoken sessions with an AI interviewer, built from a question bank, your own questions or a job description, and each one ends with a report. The question bank holds more than 5,000 real interview questions, so you can rehearse both the technical and the HR conversation.

For interviews held by video or phone, the Verve AI interview copilot offers three ways to get help that share one conversation context. It answers automatically from the live audio, it has a built-in chatbot for typed questions, and a hotkey captures part of the screen. Because it keeps the context of the whole conversation, a follow-up question is answered in light of what was already asked and what you already said. Answers are built from your resume, the job description and your own stories in STAR format, and they are prompts for answers given in your own words. The software engineer interview copilot page shows how this works for developer roles.

The NQT is taken in person at a TCS iON centre, so follow the rules TCS and TCS iON give you for it. You can start on Verve AI's free plan to rehearse the interviews that follow.

FAQ

How long is the TCS NQT?

The TCS NQT for the 2026 hiring cycle lasted 190 minutes in total. TCS split that time into a 75-minute Foundation section and a 115-minute Advanced section, of which 90 minutes were advanced coding.

Is the TCS NQT taken online from home?

TCS states that candidates must visit their allotted TCS iON centre and take the NQT in the in-centre mode. The TCS iON version of the test is also offered only at authorised TCS iON exam centres.

How many rounds are in the TCS interview process?

TCS does not publish the number of rounds in the TCS interview process. Its hiring page says that test performance qualifies you for Prime, Digital or Ninja interviews, and that the interview concentrates on the skill you selected at registration.

Does TCS charge a fee for recruitment?

TCS says it does not ask candidates to deposit money at any stage of the recruitment process. TCS also says that it never sends job offers from free email services, and that offer letters for IT hires can be checked with its offer verification tool.

Can experienced professionals take the TCS NQT?

The TCS NQT hiring drive accepted candidates with up to two years of work experience for the 2026 cycle. More experienced professionals apply through the TCS lateral hiring page, which does not describe a qualifier test.