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HomeGround ReportsThe India tech layoffs story isn’t all gloom and doom. But there’s...

The India tech layoffs story isn’t all gloom and doom. But there’s a ‘40-40 problem’

In India, there is life after layoffs — even if it is in WhatsApp groups and LinkedIn, and in start-ups such as Koo.

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New Delhi: He received the email at 4 am, read it upon waking up at 8 am, and by 11 am, he had been officially locked out of his company ID. There was no conversation, no consideration—only the brutal, blunt truth that he had been laid off.

This is how Yash Agarwal was abruptly let go from Twitter. It is the India story of the all-too-familiar wave of global tech layoffs that have affected nearly 2,00,000 individuals in 2023 alone. Meta, Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, IBM and more than 700 other companies have sacked employees since the beginning of the year. Although the numbers surpass the previous year, the situation is not as dire as it was during the 2008 financial crisis, which wiped off approximately 30 million jobs worldwide. At least in India, it’s not as bad. There is life after layoffs here.

Agarwal held a senior position at Twitter, a global tech giant that has let go of around 85 per cent of its workforce in recent months. Having been a Twitter user for 12 years—almost half his life—Agarwal turned to the very platform he was let go from to announce his layoff. “Just got laid off,” he wrote. “Bird App, it was an absolute honour, the greatest privilege ever to be a part of this team, this culture.”

“My tweet went viral — and I never expected to receive the kind of support that came pouring in, from all over the world,” says Agarwal. “A leader from the media division within the Chinese government retweeted it with a message of praise as did several other leaders from the corporate world in India.”

Job offers from both global and Indian tech companies flooded in, all eager to snatch up talent. Even though the Indian technology sector isn’t fully insulated from the massive global reckoning, the boom is still real in India. Global and Indian players hungry for a slice of success are providing a safety net.

“Layoffs have been a global phenomenon, but India is placed in a unique position,” says Agarwal. “Especially given how India isn’t a huge profit driver for most such organisations to begin with.”

There is hope for senior tech executives like Agarwal, but the hardest hit are mid-level and younger professionals—those with less experience, occupying greater numbers at the bottom of the totem pole. Panic is real, and the wait is becoming excruciatingly longer.

They watch their colleagues dropping off office Zoom calls like flies, consumed by the anxiety of refreshing their email inbox, waiting for life-changing and ruinous news. Pushback is happening through platforms like WhatsApp and LinkedIn, where support groups with thousands of members have popped up since the layoffs began, offering support and mentorship.

“The broader picture here is that it’s not yet pandemonium on the streets in the IT world,” said Kamal Karanth, co-founder of Xpheno, a specialist staffing company. “You have to look at the scale of the global layoffs and consider the context of the Indian tech sector, which now has a workforce of six million—double the headcount from ten years ago.”

Many caught in the storm are realising that it’s not a big disruption, but rather a brief lull. People are upskilling, changing sectors, and finding their footing in a rapidly evolving tech industry.


Also Read: Can Koo ride 2024 poll wave & become India’s new Twitter? How political parties see homegrown app


The hardest hit

Older hands in the industry have the armour to withstand these winds of change, but the reality of a pink slip is harsh for the young workforce that chased professional degrees with the promise of good jobs and good money.

“I was called into a random town hall meeting at 9 am one morning and was informed that 40 per cent of us were being laid-off. By 2 pm, I had been logged out of all my IDs,” recalled Tejas Sudhir Tapas, an engineer from Nagpur. “Now I know exactly what layoffs are — and that it can happen to anyone.”

Tapas moved to Bengaluru for a job in tech — only to be laid off five months later, his world sent into a tailspin. He started a WhatsApp support group, #LetsFightBack, in late December. It’s now grown into a community of thousands of sacked employees, spawning subgroups based on geographic locations and specialisations. There’s even a group called “LetsFightBack – Mentorship” that guides those who find themselves adrift.

It’s an astonishing community. Text messages range from inquiries about encashing leave days after being let go, to desperate requests for job opportunities. When one person messaged to say she had received a call from a purported hiring manager who demanded a payment of Rs 4,000 to secure an interview, a flurry of texts warned her of the scam.

Most of the messages in the main group consist of job postings, with even HR managers joining the conversation. Hundreds of group members have found leads, if not full-time positions. Some laid-off members have even pivoted to HR.

Karanth of Xpheno describes the current landscape as a “frictional situation”, particularly for the IT services sector, which tends to recruit freshers. He estimates that around 5-6 lakh entry-level professionals will suffer in some way, but 1.5 lakh freshers will secure employment this year.

“That’s where the heartburn comes from,” said Karanth.


Also Read: ‘All about helping Rajni’ — tech gurus at iSPIRT quietly power India’s digital revolution


An attractive market 

The recruitment world has a 40-40 problem. Recruiters often shy away from candidates over the age of 40 or those who seek salaries exceeding Rs 40 lakh per annum, unless they possess exceptional skills to justify such demands. The layoffs seem to be following a similar, swift script: tech companies say they over-hired during the pandemic, and are now course-correcting by cutting jobs to increase profitability.

“Layoffs are the prevailing culture in the IT sector whenever there are ‘market corrections’,” said labour lawyer Harpreet Saluja, who represents laid-off workers. “The straitjacket formula is to cut down the workforce.”

While the scale and severity of the current layoffs may have sent shockwaves through the tech sector, India remains an appealing market for global tech giants. China’s ban on companies like Meta and Google too has presented India with an attractive opportunity for expansion and interaction with foreign markets. The push towards artificial intelligence in the West has also led to jobs being outsourced to India, where labour is more readily available.

Industry body NASSCOM estimates that India’s tech industry revenue will surpass $245 billion in the current financial year, contributing an additional $19 billion compared to the previous year. The sector also continues to be a net hirer with nearly 3 lakh employees added in 2023, reflecting a 5.7 per cent year-on-year growth. The total employee base, according to NASSCOM, is roughly 5.4 million people now. India is also an exciting new base for global capacity centres (GCCs), which usually handle backend tech operations for multinational corporations.

Clearly, no tech company can afford to ignore India. Freshers are optimistic about landing on their feet, while top-level executives have either been reabsorbed by global companies or are cooling their heels at Indian startups like Koo. It’s those in the middle-rung who have cause to worry.

Focus on skills, not experience

Non-tech sectors are stepping up to absorb talent. Candidates with 4-10 years of experience are sought after.

NASSCOM recognises that the “volatile global economic scenario” is an opportunity to embrace new technology and digital acceleration.

“Increasingly, enterprises, including traditional enterprises, are leaning on technology for scaling automation while humanising UX, streamlining supply chain, enhancing cyber resilience, and delivering their sustainability goals towards becoming purpose-driven businesses,” reads NASSCOM’s strategic overview for 2023.

Thus, focusing on building technology as part of business transformation seems to be a strategic choice that Indian businesses are making.

“Despite a softening of packages on offer, compared to last year, some of the hot tech roles remain in demand and with handsome hikes in play,” said Prasadh MS, workforce research and analytics head at XPheno. These roles include full-stack engineers, backend engineers, data scientists, and data engineers. Funded tech startups, for example, offer a salary hike of anywhere from 60 per cent to 90 per cent to full-stack engineers with an average CTC ranging from Rs 15-45 lakh per annum.

Prasadh added that there are currently over 20,000 active openings across these skill sets.

Agarwal, for example, has landed on his feet. His tweet, which was profusely grateful for the opportunity to work at Twitter, went viral. And with the messages of support, came job offers — Agarwal has been strategic about creating a space for himself within the world of Indian tech policy, and he’s currently working on multiple different projects alongside pursuing plans of entrepreneurship.

“In my understanding, what people appreciated is the way I took something like this,” says Agarwal. “A lot of employers reached out to me, but I found that they weren’t just asking me about my skills but my attitude towards work as well. There’s a cultural understanding that being laid off is a failure. But that’s not necessarily true.”

Not everyone is able to hold themselves up in this way after being laid off.

Saluja said earlier there was courtesy extended to those losing their jobs. That grace is missing today.

“Work culture and employers can be rigid if employees push back — they do things like hold onto relieving letters,” said Saluja. “All the laid-off worker can do is sit across the table, cry in front of the HR, and plead.”

Sometimes they can’t even do that. This round of global layoffs has been characterised by their brutality and lack of empathy towards those losing their jobs. They have been happening en masse, leaving no room for negotiation.

“I think they planned it that way to have exactly that impact. So that we can’t process what’s happening to us,” Tapas said quietly.


Also Read: Layoff impact? Indians top sign-ups on freelance portal, most jobs on offer from tech


Larger industry trends

In India, international funding to startups has taken a hit because of the global recession. This is where trouble is brewing, according to recruiters.

While global players are still coming to India to hire for tech, Indian startups themselves are in hot water. “The tech industry is the most fungible sector in India,” said Karanth. “Their recruitment wheels are well-oiled.”

And as the industry’s wheels keep churning, so do prospective job-seekers’. Freshers have moved back to their parents’ homes to recalibrate their futures. The faithful have turned to prayers and wearing special rings to attract wealth. Those with families are postponing purchases and trying to manage their EMIs if they’re from double-income households.

Meanwhile, a different conversation is going on in #LetsFightBack WhatsApp group. A member posted a poll: “Been 2 weeks since I am laid off. Haven’t been getting calls from any sources (Naukri, Linkedin, indeed, referrals, etc.) Anyone else facing the same? For how long you were/are without a job?”

The options are 1-15 days, 16-30 days, 1-2 months, and over 2 months. Of the 60 people who responded, 33 said they’ve been without a job for over 2 months.

“Wishing you all the best,” comes a text seven minutes after the poll was posted. “You’ll do better. Keep upskilling yourself.”

And then the moment passed. “Urgent hiring for Telesales profile”, read a message, followed by a flurry of CVs and resumes from other users. It was back to business on this WhatsApp group.

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)

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