Visa Cuts 2,600 Jobs Globally Amid AI Push; Indian Employees Receive Layoff Emails

Visa’s global layoffs have had a significant impact on its India workforce, with several employees reportedly receiving termination emails between 4 am and 5 am on July 29 as part of the company’s restructuring exercise.

The payments company is reportedly eliminating around 2,600 jobs globally, or about 7 per cent of its workforce. While Visa has not disclosed how many India-based employees have been affected, the layoffs have drawn attention because of the company’s large technology presence in the country.

Visa has more than 3,500 employees in India, with major technology and corporate hubs in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.

India employees affected

According to media reports, several employees in India learned about the layoffs before the start of the workday. In one reported instance, an India-based team of 28 employees lost 10 members during the latest round of cuts.

The restructuring is being viewed as part of Visa’s broader strategy to increase its focus on artificial intelligence and technology-driven operations.

AI reshaping hiring across the sector

Visa’s layoffs come at a time when global financial technology and payments companies are increasingly restructuring their workforce around AI and automation.

Mastercard has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by about 4 per cent, while fintech company Block said it would cut nearly 4,000 jobs.

Other technology companies have also announced major workforce reductions, including Amazon, Cloudflare, Atlassian and Standard Chartered, with several linking the changes to AI investments and organisational restructuring.

For India’s technology workforce, Visa’s layoffs are being seen as another sign that AI-led restructuring is beginning to affect jobs in the country’s financial and technology services sector.