Oracle is preparing to cut between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs in India in what would be its second significant reduction in the country in recent memory, while Microsoft has placed roughly 500 of its India employees on Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs).
Oracle, which employs around 30,000 people in India, has not officially confirmed a company-wide layoff programme. Industry estimates put the global impact of the current exercise at between 7,000 and 8,000 employees. The reported cuts follow an earlier round that affected around 12,000 Oracle employees in India.
Speculation about the fresh exercise intensified after an internal document was reportedly leaked online, suggesting that managers had been asked to identify roles that could be eliminated. September 1 and September 15 have both been discussed internally as possible dates, though neither has been officially confirmed.
The planned reductions come even as Oracle continues to report strong business performance. The company posted 17% revenue growth in fiscal 2026, with its cloud infrastructure segment expanding by 77%. Co-CEO Clay Magouyrk has said that customer demand for AI computing capacity has outpaced available supply.
On the Microsoft side, Pareekh Jain, CEO of market research firm EIIRTrend, said the PIP exercise affects approximately 2% of Microsoft's India workforce and is part of a worldwide initiative. A Microsoft spokesperson clarified that its formal PIP process may involve coaching, voluntary separation, or termination for employees not meeting performance expectations.
Analysts say both moves reflect a broader industry shift in which technology companies are reallocating headcount and budgets toward AI infrastructure and cloud services, trimming roles in other areas even as revenues grow.
