One of India’s largest Information Technology (IT) companies, Wipro, has given pink slips to at least 300 employees in the current fiscal as part of its performance appraisal process. The exact number of employees is still uncertain; news reports have pegged it between 300 and 600. According to a PTI report, the number could increase in this fiscal to 2,000 employees.

In its official statement, the company stated that “it undertakes a rigorous performance appraisal process” on a regular basis to align its workforce with the business objectives, strategic priorities of the organisation and requirements of our clients.” The statement also said, “The performance appraisal may also lead to the separation of some employees from the company and these numbers vary from year to year.”

The Delhi editions of Economic Times (ET), Business Standard (BS) and Financial Express (FE) have carried snippets on this development on the sidebar of their front page with reports on inside pages. Mint has carried an agency brief, on Page 5, headlined: “Wipro said to have sacked hundreds of employees”.

The Bengaluru edition of ET has a report on page 14 with a quote from an employee at Wipro: “This year the appraisal cycle has been more stringent than in the past.” The employee who refused to be identified said, “I am seeing more people being let go than we have in the past three years.”

The Bengaluru edition of Times of India (TOI) has, however, carried a story on their front page with a continued report on their business section on Page 20.

BS and FE detail the reasons behind the layoffs on the Page 3 and Page 6 reports, respectively.

Both BS and FE discuss growth challenges and how job growth in the IT industry has remained sluggish in the past two years.

FE has quoted Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies) – a trade association of Indian IT industry – which states that industry’s focus on “productivity and automation” will affect job growth. Not just Wipro, but many other IT companies, which have already cut down campus recruitments, are mulling downsizing their workforce.

According to TOI, Cognizant, a rival company of Wipro, has also initiated the process of laying-off 6,000 employees, which adds up to two per cent of its workforce. BS report also notes that the real carnage could be at Cognizant.