Engineering services giant L&T has reportedly laid off 200 employees in mid-to-senior roles.
Sources said the cuts are partly due to performance evaluations and a strategic effort to minimise role overlaps.
With a workforce of nearly 24,000, the company has conducted job cuts primarily in delivery and support functions.
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It reflects the industry trend towards automation of various operations.
The layoffs represent less than 1 percent of L&T’s total workforce.
The company focuses on engineering services spanning transportation, telecom, hi-tech, industrial products, plant engineering, and medical devices.
The move comes amid challenges faced by the Indian IT sector, particularly in its predominant business vertical, the banking and financial services sector.
It grapples with macroeconomic headwinds and reduced IT spending by customers.
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A company spokesperson said: “We conduct annual performance reviews as a standard process to assess the capabilities of our workforce every year, and act appropriately based on skill sets and performance.
“This is essential for the maintenance of our high standards of service delivery, continuous upskilling while being nimble as an organization, and ensuring that we remain at the forefront of technological innovation.
“Looking ahead, in line with our growth prospects and strategy, we continue to hire and add to the team especially in areas of plant engineering, digital & software engineering, AI and software defined vehicles with over 2,500 engineers.”
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Sources, however, hinted at another round of job cuts in January, contingent on assessing the business environment.
L&T CEO Amit Chadha said: “Now the reason that we’ve been prudent and cautious slightly in terms of the guidance to say 17.5% – 18.5%, though our internal targets are to reach the original numbers that we had told you, is that the market in the last 3 weeks/5 weeks has changed slightly.
“One, you are aware of the UAW (United Auto Workers) strikes from mid-September that have been happening in the US, which has put a pause on a couple of projects that we were working on.
“We don’t know when that’s going to lift off.”
