How 2023 may become the worst year in the history of the tech world

It’s not been a great beginning for some IT pros in the year 2021. The technology industry globally has been ravaged by job cuts. The first 15 days of the year so far have reportedly seen 91 companies lay off over 24,000 tech employees. The outlook too is not very promising. Many reports signal worse days ahead. In India too, large consumer internet companies are moving fast to rein in costs and are planning additional job cuts as 2023 begins on a cautious note, as per multiple sources and investors.
Startups in India cut jobs amid funding winter
Companies like Ola (which fired 200 employees), voice automated startup Skit.ai, dominated the headlines in January. In December last year, over 17,000 tech employees were shown the door. Amazon has cut almost 1000 jobs in India. Globally, the layoff number for Amazon is 18,000. Golman Sachs too is said to have cut 3200 positions globally. The companies India operations too are impacted. However, there is no clear number.
Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo is reported to have conducted layoffs last week even as it simultaneously is cutting costs to optimise operations, sources told ET. Sources said that the company is estimated to have cut at least 60-80 jobs at the company across divisions. Rebel Foods, the cloud kitchen, which houses brands like Behrouz Biryani, Oven Story, has also cut its workforce. A spokesperson said that any changes in employee strength is on account of “annual performance evaluation and realigning the organisation” to the firm’s priorities for future goals. Startups like Cashfree, Moglix and others too have fired employees just two weeks into the New Year.

Agritech startups too have joined the growing list of companies that are downsizing their teams amid business model challenges and an overall squeeze in financing for privately held technology companies. Gramophone let go of around 75 employees across November and December. Captain Fresh and BharatAgri too have let go off employees.
Global job cuts scenario no better
According to layoff tracking website Layoffs.fyi, 153,110 workers approximately were let go in 2022, led by companies like Meta, Twitter, Oracle, Nvidia, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel and Salesforce, among others.
The number of layoffs reached its nadir in November, which saw 51,489 tech workers lose their jobs. Google is another Big Tech company expected to take harsh steps to reduce its headcount in early 2023. Approximately 6 per cent of Google employees could be sacked over “not having enough impact”, according to a report by The Information. Google layoffs in 2023 could see as many as 11,000 employees lose their jobs.
All eyes are now on the Big Tech quarterly results that will come out at the end of this month.