Paytm lays off more than 1,000 employees across various departments: Report

The parent company of Paytm, One 97 Communications, has decided to fire more than 1,000 employees across various departments, said a report by Economic Times citing sources, on Monday (Dec 25). The layoffs reportedly took place over the last few months.

10 per cent employees affected

The layoffs, according to ET, took place as the company is in the process of realigning various businesses and looking to cut costs, and will affect 10 per cent of the entire workforce at Paytm.

The reported layoffs, if confirmed, would be among the steepest job cuts by an Indian new-age tech firm in 2023. According to the ET report, Paytm’s lending business which saw a major expansion in the last year or so, may witness most of the job losses due to the layoffs.

The layoffs have affected employees across payments, lending and executives in operations in sales, said ET citing sources. Reportedly, performance issues have resulted in most people getting fired as the company has sought to increase portability.

AI takes over jobs

In response to the report, a spokesperson for the financial services firm disputed the number of people fired but acknowledged layoffs. The Paytm spokesperson also said that it intends to save 10-15 per cent of staff costs over the current fiscal year. Additionally, most of the impacted roles have been replaced.

“We are transforming our operations with AI-powered automation, eliminating repetitive tasks and roles to drive efficiency across growth and costs, resulting in a slight reduction in our workforce within operations and marketing,” said the Paytm spokesperson.

The company’s spokesperson also told ET that their core business of payment might see a manpower increase of 15,000 people in the upcoming year.

(With inputs from agencies)