BANGALORE, 11 MAY 2009 - Microsoft is planning to lay off over 55 of its 5,500 employees in India as part of what it calls its global realignment of its business priorities.
Even as the company reduces staff in some roles in India, the company will however still be hiring more staff in the country, a company spokeswoman said on Monday.
The net reduction of staff is likely to be about 1 percent, she said. Some of the staff affected may be moved to other roles both in India and abroad, she added.
"We are currently working with the concerned employees to evaluate alternative positions internally, and where applicable look at mutually favorable disengagement terms," Microsoft said in a statement on Monday.
Microsoft announced in January this year that it would cut 5,000 jobs worldwide. The first round of lay offs affecting 1,400 staff has already been completed. The cuts in India are part of the second round, the spokeswoman said.
Microsoft did not disclose which groups in the Indian operation will be affected.
The company has a sales operation, as well as product development, research and development, and services operations in the country, which together hire about 5,500 staff.
The trimming of staff in India has been small by most multinational companies that have announced job cuts worldwide. India is seen as a low-cost location for these companies to run their software development and services operations.
Besides operating its own subsidiary operations in the country, Microsoft also outsources work to Indian outsourcers.
