A new round of layoffs has begun at Amazon India, affecting both the Amazon Web Services (AWS) and People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT) departments.

According to a report, the current reduction is a part of the layoff announcement that was made in March by Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy. This step is expected to impact around 9,000 employees globally.

According to an interview with Jassy, the current round of layoffs was announced back in March, and employees in Indian teams have been identified and issued pink slips.

Layoffs at PXT- Amazon’s Human Resources Team

People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT) is also referred to as Amazon’s Human Resources Team.

So, around 100 employees have been laid off from People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT) in the latter half of the week.

According to a source, one whole team was laid off – which had 17 people in total – and around a hundred people were fired from PXT. According to the source, PXT is one of the most vulnerable verticals. 

Another employee who is working in the data management vertical at the organization said that more than 80 people have been fired from data management teams. The employee confirmed that the severance is standard plus which means that they would get medical benefits.

What Does CEO of AWS Has to Say?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO, Adam Selipsky, had announced earlier, in April, that layoffs at AWS would start from the North American teams. After this, the procedure would be taken globally. 

According to him, the slowdown growth of AWS revenues and the macroeconomic conditions are the two major reasons behind this layoff round.

In the memo, Selipsky wrote that due to customer demand for cloud services and the unique advantages that AWS offers, the size of both the business and the size of their workforce has increased dramatically. 

Therefore, they worked as quickly as they could to create what customers desired the most, and undoubtedly this resulted in growth.

But it must be noted that because of this rapid development and the overall business and macroeconomic environment, it becomes essential that the company concentrates on identifying and supporting its top priorities which means the things which would have the most impact on its business.

Downsizing at Amazon India

Amazon India is letting go of around 500 employees in India, and the process is still going on as said by the company itself.

Moreover, as a part of the restructuring process, a report said that many tier-2 locations, including Kochi and Lucknow, had their seller onboarding operations terminated.

The company had earlier shut down many businesses in India last year which included tech, food delivery, and wholesale distribution businesses. 

It is being said that the latest development is because Amazon’s e-commerce business growth is slowing down in India. 

Since Indian laws prohibit foreign-owned corporations from owning interests in any sellers or even having control over their inventories, a foreign-owned company operating an online marketplace cannot do either.

Therefore, Amazon India and Patni Group entered into a joint venture to give birth to the e-commerce business, Appario.

However, due to legal changes, a significant selling company in which Amazon has a share might now be forced to cease operations for the second time. 

Amazon reduced its ownership of Cloudtail’s parent company Prione in 2019 to roughly 24%, but in the following year, it acquired 100% by purchasing Catamaran Ventures, an investment arm. Infosys founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy, held a stake in it, and this eventually led to Cloudtail withdrawing from Amazon India. 

Therefore, this is an alarming situation because employees being laid off is not just a serious matter for the individual but for the economy as a whole.

Proofread & Published By Naveenika Chauhan