India's Tech Workforce Faces Widespread Job Cuts as Global Giants Reorganize

India's tech workforce is facing another significant disruption as global companies reorganize their operations and redirect spending towards newer areas. Oracle is preparing to cut around 3,000 jobs in the country, while Microsoft has put approximately 500 employees in India on performance improvement plans (PIPs).

Pareekh Jain, chief executive of EIIRTrend, estimated that about 2% of Microsoft India's workforce could be affected by the company's global PIP exercise. He also estimated that Oracle's latest job cuts could affect between 2,000 and 3,000 employees, with layoffs expected to take effect from September 1.

Kamal Karanth, co-founder of staffing firm Xpheno, noted that PIPs are not necessarily an alternative to layoffs and are intended to provide employees with an opportunity to improve their performance. He also warned that the effects of AI on engineering employment will become increasingly apparent over the next two to three years.

Experts point out that while putting employees on PIPs does not necessarily mean the company is pursuing layoffs, it can be part of normal performance management processes. Oracle employs around 30,000 people in India and had already eliminated about 12,000 jobs in the country during an earlier round of layoffs.