The parent company of Paytm, One 97 Communications, will cut more jobs across departments as part of its annual performance review, reported Money Control. This comes after RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank from conducting several business from March 15. According to a Moneycontrol report, some of the departments have been asked to reduce their team size by 20%.A Paytm spokesperson acknowledged that the ongoing appraisal cycle might result in performance-based job cuts, but did not give a number. They also added that rather than the performance exercise, more jobs would be affected by the company's push towards artificial intelligence-powered automation.
“We are in the midst of our annual appraisal cycle, a common practice across companies, where performance assessments may lead to adjustments based on performance evaluations and role suitability. It's crucial to understand that this process is distinct from layoffs, a routine aspect of performance evaluations in any organization," the spokesperson said. "We continue to transform our operations with AI-powered automation to drive efficiency. This involves redefining certain roles and tasks to better align with our growth and cost-efficiency goals," the spokesperson added. The spokesperson also contested that these are not strictly layoffs as appraisal and performance reviews are "routine" company activity. “We are in the midst of our annual appraisal cycle, a common practice across companies, where performance assessments may lead to adjustments based on performance evaluations and role suitability. It's crucial to understand that this process is distinct from layoffs, a routine aspect of performance evaluations in any organization," the spokesperson stated. There is speculation that the number of people being let go this time is much larger than the 1,000 pink slips given in December 2023 after the company adopted AI, another employee told the publication.