Amazon To Fire Hundreds Across Divisions In India Amid Global Downsizing

Ecommerce major Amazon looks set to conduct layoffs in India as well after global news outlets reported the ecommerce giant to be in the process of firing as many as 10,000 employees.

Amazon’s layoffs in India are set to impact hundreds of employees across divisions as it struggles with slowing sales figures, ET reported.

The ecommerce giant’s India headcount stands at around 100K. According to media reports, Amazon India is set to conduct layoffs across engineering and other departments, mirroring the global trend. Further, employees in shared services, back-office and retail operations are said to be more under threat of being fired.

Reportedly, since Monday (November 14), Amazon is expected to lay off 10,000 corporate and technology employees across the world.

The New York Times first reported that Amazon would start the layoffs this week, targeting corporate and tech jobs. The publication noted that around 3% of Amazon’s white-collar workers are expected to be impacted by the downsizing.

While Twitter fired over 90% of its employees in India and Meta’s layoffs didn’t impact India significantly, Amazon’s India layoffs are expected to run into the hundreds. While Twitter had only 230 employees and Meta around 400, Amazon employs as many as 100,000 Indians in white-collar jobs.

In May this year, Amazon India said it has generated 1.1 Mn jobs in India. The number is significantly bolstered by the inclusion of contractual and indirect jobs. Amazon is expected to follow global trends and lay off employees across engineering and other departments. 

Amazon’s layoffs see the continuation of the bloodbath that’s happening at Big Tech this year as global macroeconomic pressures mount.

After being acquired by Elon Musk, the microblogging site announced that it would be firing around 50% of its staff, or more than 3,700 employees globally. Similarly, Meta downsized by 13%, firing more than 11,000 employees in the process.

Sea Limited, the parent of the banned game Free Fire and ecommerce platform Shopee, is also laying off 10% of its employees, or around 7,000 people. It exited India earlier this year and has seen its share price tank by 81% over the past year.

In India as well, tech startups have been conducting layoffs since the start of the year, as the adverse macroeconomic conditions across the world have seen startup funding dry up and post-COVID recovery of some sectors.

According to Inc42’s ‘Indian Startup Layoff Tracker’, 46 Indian startups have laid off more than 16,000 employees in India. 

Edtech has been impacted the worst, as schools and coaching institutes reopen as the effects of the pandemic subside. So far in 2022, 14 edtech startups have fired more than 7,000 employees, as startups are forced to find the right product-market fit again.