Indian Tech Professionals Seek Jobs Amid Global Layoffs

The number of Indian professionals from global technology companies actively seeking jobs has surged more than fourfold in the past month amid a wave of global tech layoffs, unleashing a flood of talent into the country’s already-strained job market.

More than 56,000 Indian professionals from 20 major tech companies, which have each undertaken over 1,000 global layoffs since January, are now actively looking for opportunities, according to a study for ET by specialist staffing firm Xpheno.

The number stood at just over 12,000 a month ago. While some entered the market after layoffs, many others are proactively exploring opportunities.

While some entered the market after layoffs, many others are proactively exploring opportunities amid growing anxiety over job security. Nearly two-thirds have been continuously engaging with recruiters and employers in the past week alone, the study found.

Six months ago, the active count of jobseekers from this cohort was around 5,000, while a year ago it was under 4,000.

The sharp increase is also linked to the fact that more than two-thirds of the enterprises studied – which include Oracle, Meta, Dell, Cisco and Amazon – are headquartered in the US.

Growing instability and challenges around overseas talent engaged by US firms have emerged as key drivers of job-seeking activity among Indian employees.

The influx comes at a difficult time, with competition intensifying for a shrinking pool of technology roles. As reported by ET recently, tech hiring has fallen to a 28-month low amid cautious spending, AI-driven productivity gains and continued global economic uncertainty.

“The overall lowered volume and velocity of hiring action across the tech sector is not conducive for talent to venture into the job market,” said Francis Padamadan, CEO of Xpheno. “Global events and geopolitical challenges in key client markets continue to disrupt hiring action across all enterprise functions and experience levels in the Indian tech sector.”

Talent at the entry-level and the senior suite will find the going particularly tough as active demand in these layers continues to be low, he said. Hiring continues to be largely driven by backfills, leaving candidates with fewer choices and limited negotiating power.

“Talent with high packages, like overseas returnees, will find it challenging to bag a competitive matching offer in India,” Padamadan said.

Discussions on social media reflect the anxiety rippling through the sector. “I got laid off. Searching for last two months. no interview calls. It’s mentally exhausting,” reads a comment from an affected employee on Reddit.

“The market is absolutely brutal right now, especially for early-career data roles,” says another.

Ritu Sethi, partner, technology and outsourcing and offshoring, at search and talent advisory firm ABC Consultants, said there has been a 30-35% jump in mid- and senior-level professionals reaching out in recent weeks, leading to heightened competition as talent supply appears to exceed demand across many roles.

“People are not really looking at compensation; it’s more about getting a job,” she said. “And some of them are willing to take a cut.”

Pranshu Upadhyay, regional director of Michael Page India, said while there’s been a jump in reachouts from laid-off candidates in tech, a number of professionals – especially those who are agile and have upskilled themselves – have found opportunities in GCCs and startups.

“There is high placeability for AI, cybersecurity, multicloud environment experienced candidates,” he said.

The Xpheno study also shows that talent from this cohort has moved into GCCs, Indian and global IT services & consulting firms, global software products and services firms.

Companies that have absorbed talent from the churn include Deloitte, Revolut, Walmart Global, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HCLTech, Accenture, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Salesforce and Flipkart, said the study.