Cashfree Payments Sacks 80 Employees In Organisational ‘Restructuring’

Fintech platform Cashfree Payments sacked 80 employees earlier this week as part of an organisational restructuring exercise, sources told Inc42. 

However, Inc42 couldn’t immediately verify the teams impacted by the layoff exercise. The sources also told Inc42 that the number of employees impacted by the layoffs could be as high as 120. 

In total, 13% of Cashfree Payments’ workforce of 900 employees has been impacted by the layoffs, the sources added. However, the company claimed that only 6-8% of the employees were affected by the retrenchments. 

In a statement sent to Inc42, a Cashfree Payments spokesperson said, “Cashfree Payments has been periodically evaluating performances and processes as a standard business practice. The organisation has reevaluated the relevance of certain roles and functions leading to movement of talent within teams and a few employee exits. This process of organisational restructuring has impacted around 6-8% of employees.”

The development was first reported by The Economic Times.

The retrenchments were announced close on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directing the fintech player to stop onboarding new merchants. While Cashfree Payments has received an in-principle approval from the central bank to operate as a payment aggregator, the RBI asked the company to conduct an audit within six months to get the final approval. 

Founded in 2015 by Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta, Cashfree Payments operates a full-stack digital payments solution platform that enables businesses to collect payments and offers API banking solutions. . 

The layoffs, which began in the Indian startup ecosystem in 2022, have continued in 2023 as well. Earlier today, Inc42 exclusively reported that ride-hailing company Ola fired 200 employees from its tech and product teams as part of a restructuring exercise.

On Wednesday, Inc42 reported that crypto exchange CoinDCX has begun cutting its workforce as part of a restructuring drive. Harappa Education, Unacademy-owned Relevel, LEAD and Moglix  are among the other startups whose layoffs were reported earlier this month.