Accenture To Lay Off At Least 7,000 Employees In India: Report

As part of its global plans, Accenture plans to cut at least 7,000 jobs in India, according to a report by a leading media house. The company has decided to cut about 2.5 per cent of its total workforce, or, 19,000 jobs, continuing the current trend of layoffs among the largest global companies.

It has been reported that more than 50 per cent of the global job cuts will come in the non-billable corporate functions.

Commenting on reports of layoffs in India, Accenture said, "The people impact is estimated to be 2.5 per cent of our current global workforce. This may differ by market and by country, as a consequence of our different footprint and growth, and should not be taken as a figure applicable to all geographies."

Elaborating on layoffs, Accenture CFO K C McClure had mentioned, "These actions are expected to impact roughly 2.5 per cent or 19,000 of our current workforce, of which over half are non-billable corporate functions and include over 800 of our leaders across our markets and services.” 

“Nearly half of the 19,000 people will depart by the end of FY23,” he added.

On Thursday, Accenture reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2023, ended February 28, 2023, with revenues of USD 15.8 billion, an increase of 5 per cent in US dollars and 9 per cent in local currency over the same period last year.

New bookings for the quarter were a record USD 22.1 billion, with consulting bookings of USD 10.7 billion and managed services bookings of USD 11.4 billion.

But Accenture CEO and Chair Julie Sweet in a press statement said that the company is looking to lower costs in fiscal year 2024 and beyond “while continuing to invest in our business and our people to capture the significant growth opportunities ahead”.

Accenture said that it expects revenue growth to be in the range of 8 per cent to 10 per cent in local currency, compared to 8 per cent to 11 per cent previously for fiscal 2023.

The company also lowered its expectations for operating cash flow, which it expects to be in the range of USD 8.7 billion to USD 9.2 billion compared to USD 8.5 billion to USD 9.0 billion previously.

Accenture added a net of 424 employees to take its total workforce to 7,38,143 in its December-February quarter, underlining the slowest pace of net employee addition in the company’s last 10 quarters.

At market close, Accenture shares were up 7.26 per cent and trading at USD 271.66 on NYSE.

(Story was updated with a statement from Accenture at 12.40 pm IST)