One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, has reportedly laid off more than 1,000 employees across different departments as a strategic initiative to streamline operations and cut expenses. The firm said that it is transforming operations with AI-powered automation and will be able to save 10-15% in employee costs as AI has delivered more than it expected it to.
As per The Economic Times report, the layoffs, spanning the past few months, represent one of the most substantial workforce downsizings in an Indian tech company this year.
The workforce reductions, affecting over 10 percent of Paytm’s total employees, come in the wake of recent events like discontinuing small-ticket consumer lending and halting its “buy now pay later” lending segment on the UPI platform.
A Paytm spokesperson said, “We are transforming our operations with AI-powered automation to drive efficiency, eliminating repetitive tasks and roles to drive efficiency across growth and costs, resulting in a slight reduction in our workforce in operations and marketing. We will be able to save 10-15% in employee costs as AI has delivered more than we expected it to. Additionally, we constantly evaluate cases of non-performance throughout the year.”
“Our core business of payment may see manpower increase by 15,000 more in the coming year. With a dominant position in the payments platform and a proven profitable business model, we will continue to innovate for India. In this, Insurance and Wealth will be a logical expansion of our platform, in continuation of our focus on the existing businesses. Having shown the strength of our distribution-based business model in loan distribution, we are expanding the same to focus on new businesses to drive scale.”
Paytm declared earlier this month its intention to reduce the scale of its BNPL offering, Paytm Postpaid. The company expressed a cautious approach toward small-ticket loans in the future, emphasising a shift to concentrate on larger-sized personal loans and merchant loans.
Only a week ago, the premier payment company in the country announced plans to recruit over 50,000 individuals in sales. The objective is to onboard a greater number of merchants in smaller cities and towns as part of an overhaul of its array of money management products.
Comments
0 comment