Google To Move Some ‘Core’ Unit Jobs To India From The US

Tech major Google reportedly plans to move “some” job roles from its ‘core’ teams in the US to India.

As per internal documents reviewed by CNBC, the tech giant has fired at least 200 employees from its core teams and is looking to shift those roles to India and Mexico as part of a restructuring exercise.

At least 50 of the positions eliminated were in engineering at the company’s offices in Sunnyvale, California, noted the fillings.

Overall, the core unit oversees the technical foundation behind the company’s flagship products and is responsible for users’ safety online. Core teams encompass roles such as Python developers, technical infrastructure, security foundation, app platforms, core developers, and various engineering roles.

As per the report, the “core layoffs” are said to have also hit the governance and protected data group. Meanwhile, the company confirmed the development to CNBC, saying that employees will be able to “apply for open roles within Google and to access outplacement services”.

“As we’ve said, we’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead… A number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers and align their resources to their biggest product priorities,” a company spokesperson said. 

The move to shift jobs to India could largely be led by considerations around cutting costs and streamlining operations. Besides AI-led automation and regulatory headwinds are also expected to have played a key role in the company-wide rejig. 

While the number of jobs being moved to India is expected to be a meagre one, the development will bolster India as its key base globally and will see the new hires handle the tech major’s key offerings.

The country has been an attractive proposition for global tech companies owing to a high-quality and affordable talent pool.

With this, Google has become the latest tech giant to tap into its India offices. While the tech major is shifting technical and product-led jobs, its peer Apple is looking to move at least half of its existing supply chain from China to India and create 5 Lakh non-technical direct jobs in the country over the next three years.

Amazon India too plans to create 2 Mn jobs in India by virtue of digitising 10 Mn small businesses.

This comes a year after multiple big tech giants undertook mass layoffs at its India offices. While Google laid off 400-500 employees in the country, Meta and Amazon handed out pink slips to 100 and 1,000 employees, respectively. 

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