Google Layoffs Hits India Now, 453 Employees Laid Off

Internet giant Google reportedly fired 453 employees from various departments in India late on Thursday (February 16).

The impacted employees received an email from Sanjay Gupta, country head and vice president of Google India, sources told The Hindu Business Line. Inc42 has reached out to Google and the story will be updated as and when the company responds.

The layoffs at Google India come after its parent company Alphabet announced the sacking of 12,000 employees, impacting around 6% of its total global workforce.

The development also comes as Google has had a tough time in India in recent months, with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) having slapped two penalties worth INR 2,274 Cr over market dominance and non-competitive behaviour.

Earlier this week, over 250 Google employees in Zurich, Switzerland walked out of offices to protest against the company having fired 12,000 employees. Similar protests have taken place in New York and California earlier this month because of the layoffs.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO had also sent an email to employees across the world, stating that he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.” He added that Google has sent a separate mail to employees in the US who were impacted, while the process would take longer due to local laws.

In India, the Ministry of Labour mandates that a layoff which involves more than 100 employees can’t be done without its permission. So, we will update the story with Google’s stand on this. 

The tech major has undertaken a “rigorous review across product areas and functions”, according to Pichai, ensuring that people and roles are aligned with Google’s highest priorities. “The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions,” he added.

Google is one of the many tech companies which have cut jobs in recent months.

In January this year, Microsoft said it would fire 10,000 employees, while Amazon has cut 18,000 jobs. At the same time, Facebook’s parent Meta has also cut 11,000 jobs across the world.

Microsoft has started cutting jobs in India and has already cut R&D jobs in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Amazon India has also seen hundreds of exits, though the ecommerce major maintains those were not layoffs-related exits.

In India, tech startups have also cut jobs, pressured by the global macroeconomic headwinds. According to Inc42’s ‘Indian Startup Layoff Tracker’, Indian tech startups have fired 22,139 employees since the start of 2022.