MC EXCLUSIVE Oracle begins India job cuts, targeting cloud and financial services teams

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American technology giant Oracle has begun layoffs in India as part of a global cost-cutting drive spurred by rising investments in artificial intelligence, sources told Moneycontrol.

These cuts have so far happened across Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and Oracle Financial Services Software (OFSS) divisions, impacting hundreds of employees. The company has nearly 30,000 employees based In India.

Last week, many employees from Oracle Financial Services Software (OFSS) team in India were let go, multiple sources privy to the development said. Impacted employees were given a severance package that included two-months worth of full salary, one month’s basic salary for every one year of service at Oracle along with the applicable gratuity and leave encashment.

Employees across all grades from M4 or manager Level 4 to IC1 or Individual contributor level 1 – freshers got laid off.

According to one of the sources cited above, Sonny Singh, executive vice president and general manager of Oracle Financial Services Global Business Unit had called for an emergency meeting with the employees on September 4.

“He told everyone in the call that the company is under difficult times. ‘I see you all may be missing some of your colleagues but it was all pre planned and well executed. Please help your ex-colleagues in whatever way possible by referring them in other companies to secure a job' and then he told employees that he will be retiring immediately,” the source said.

Oracle has been laying off employees globally since last month across locations including US, India, Canada and Phillipines, so far estimated to be about 10 percent of the global workforce as per media reports, but there will be more layoffs, sources said.

Moneycontrol couldn’t ascertain the exact number of employees that got laid off in India. Detailed queries sent to Oracle pertaining to the layoffs and global strategy changes went unanswered at the time of publishing.

On the AI front, Oracle has come up with an internal AI assisting tool that integrates ChatGPT. The company has been pushing employees to use this tool daily and their usage is getting tracked, one of the sources cited above said.

“They are even getting automated email on how much they are using this tool as percentage of their work. These have become new metrics to assess employees on AI readiness and adaption,” the source said.

Last year, Oracle India had revamped its cloud strategy by shifting to a vertical-focused structure from the current business unit-wise model, aligning the India business to its global change in structure.

These verticals will include traditional sectors such as BFSI, telecom, manufacturing, education and the public sector along with newer verticals as they mature.

Interestingly, for Oracle’s peers, despite rising trade tensions, layoffs and tariff talk in the US, American tech giants like Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI are ramping up investments in India. From major office leases in Hyderabad and Bengaluru to new engineering hubs and AI partnerships, India is quickly becoming a critical part of their global expansion plans.

This has also resulted in major US tech firms-Facebook (Meta), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google (Alphabet)-having collectively hired over 30,000 new employees in India over the past 12 months.

Indian IT targeted

Amid intensifying protectionist sentiments around imposing tariffs on outsourcing IT services work in the US, a US Halting International Relocation of Employment (HIRE) Bill, introduced by a private member in the US Senate. The bill proposes a 25 percent tax on payments made to foreign or outsourced workers by US-based firms and individuals.

This is coming at the time when tariff warnings from Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro, has already unsettled India’s $280-billion IT industry.

Last week, Navarro, known for his hawkish trade positions, reposted a message on social media X saying: “Tariff the foreign remote workers. All outsourcing should be tariffed. Countries must pay for the privilege of providing services remotely to the US the same way as goods.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with Moneycontrol, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Information Broadcasting, Electronics and IT, addressed the fears of Indian IT professional losing jobs amid US tariff threats.

He said that India is actively engaging with global corporations and foreign governments to ensure that the Indian technology industry continues to thrive, even as fears rise over a potential crackdown on outsourcing by Trump.