Global technology giants are implementing significant workforce restructuring in India as part of broader industry shifts. According to reports from The Economic Times, Oracle is eliminating roughly 3,000 positions in the country, with layoffs expected to take effect from September 1. The company currently employs around 30,000 people in India and had already eliminated about 12,000 jobs during an earlier round of layoffs. Meanwhile, Microsoft has moved between 400 and 500 of its India employees onto performance improvement plans (PIPs), affecting about 2% of Microsoft India's workforce, or approximately 400-500 employees. As per EIIRTrend CEO Pareekh Jain, around 2% of Microsoft's India workforce could be affected by a global PIP exercise, with being placed on a PIP not automatically meaning termination but signaling a heightened focus on individual performance. According to The Times of India, industry executives point out that putting employees on PIPs does not necessarily mean the company is pursuing layoffs, as such plans can also form part of normal performance management processes.
The latest developments highlight Oracle's broader financial restructuring as the company navigates significant AI infrastructure investments. According to recent reports, Oracle reduced its headcount by about 21,000 employees during fiscal 2026, representing roughly 13% of its workforce. The company's restructuring costs increased to around $1.8 billion, compared with $374 million a year earlier. Despite these workforce reductions, Oracle's financial performance remained strong with FY2026 revenue increasing 17% to $67.4 billion, while cloud infrastructure revenue grew 77%. The company has been spending heavily on AI infrastructure and data centres, with capital expenditure reaching about $55.7 billion, compared with $21.2 billion a year earlier. According to Vasu, Oracle's restructuring is indicative of changing skills and functions that technology companies are prioritising. "The restructuring is essentially about moving budgets from legacy sales skills to new-age skills," he said, describing it as an AI-led restructuring where budgets are being reallocated between legacy skills and new-age skills. Kamal Karanth, co-founder of Xpheno, emphasized that PIPs are "not necessarily an alternative to layoffs" but instead intended to provide employees with opportunities to improve their performance.
The latest developments highlight a broader shift in the technology workforce as companies channel greater capital towards AI, cloud and other emerging technologies. According to industry research, more than 175,000 technology jobs have reportedly been eliminated in 2026 amid AI investments, cost pressures and restructuring. The Oracle cuts are part of a broader workforce restructuring at the company, with Oracle having already eliminated around 21,000 positions globally earlier in 2026, as the company significantly increases spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. For employees, the message is becoming increasingly clear: AI is not only changing the skills companies hire for, but also changing how existing roles are evaluated, funded and retained. For HR leaders, the challenge will be balancing productivity and cost discipline with reskilling and internal mobility, particularly as organisations seek to redeploy talent rather than simply reduce headcount.
India's IT hiring landscape is experiencing significant changes, particularly affecting fresh graduates. As reported by The Times of India, companies such as IBM, Accenture, Oracle Financial Services Software and Cognizant have told candidates that joining dates will depend on factors including project availability, business needs and administrative processes. Some engineering graduates have been left waiting for months and in certain cases more than a year before starting work. The shift represents a move away from large-scale campus recruitment toward hiring determined by specific projects and actual demand. Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are becoming increasingly important employers for technology talent, managing functions such as technology, engineering, finance, R&D, analytics and other business operations for their global organisations. However, HR professionals do not see GCCs as a direct, like-for-like replacement for conventional campus recruitment, with their hiring increasingly centred on specialised capabilities including AI, data analytics, product development, cybersecurity and digital engineering.
India's IT sector workforce is undergoing significant changes, with the industry's overall workforce increasing by only 1.35 lakh to 5.9 million in 2026, according to Nasscom estimates. The five largest IT companies reduced their combined workforce by a net 6,981 employees in FY26, after adding 12,718 employees in FY25. However, there are signs of improvement, with India's six largest IT companies adding a net 5,400 employees in Q1 FY27, reversing the previous quarter's reduction of 7,100 jobs, with TCS accounting for much of the increase by adding 9,000 employees net. The shift is part of a wider reset across the IT industry, with experts noting that hiring is increasingly being determined by specific projects and actual demand, rather than companies recruiting large numbers of freshers simply to build bench strength. Junior and mid-level engineers working on lower-complexity tasks are likely to face greater exposure to AI-driven employment changes over the next two to three years.
