With Hewlett-Packard (HP) announcing to lay off about 27,000 employees globally as a part of its restructuring process, the axe is expected to fall on its Indian employees, too.
The company said in a statement on Thursday that the decision was expected to affect every business and region. “We have not yet announced specific plans with regards to specific locations. We do expect the workforce reduction to impact every business and region,” a company spokesperson in India said in an email reply.
The troubles being faced by the company in the recent past were because of the declining demand for personal computers, as more people are connecting to the internet on smartphones and tablets.
But industry experts believe it may not affect the company’s information technology (IT) services business in India much, since the ratio of offshore employees to the overall headcount is not as high as some of its global peers like IBM and Accenture.
“HP’s offshore headcount is still lesser than many of its large global competitions. At a time when the company is restructuring globally, utilising the offshore base to the maximum could be one of the strategies to keep its cost minimal,” said Amneet Singh, country manager of the Everest Group.
HP does not give the regional-wise break-up of its headcount. However, according to industry estimates, the company has about 55,000 employees in India, with over 25,000 in the IT services business.
Company sources said HP had already served notices to 400 employees in India for “failing to meet operational criteria”. However, it could not be known if any of them has been asked to leave.
