IT firm Accenture cuts over 11,000 jobs in three months; Warns of more layoffs amid AI push
New Delhi: Global IT consulting firm Accenture has laid off more than 11,000 employees over the past three months and has warned of further job cuts, citing the accelerating impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on its operations.
The Dublin-based firm unveiled details of an $865 million (around Rs 7,669 crore) restructuring programme, warning analysts that if staff cannot be retrained fast enough, further reductions will be inevitable, as reported by India Today on Sunday.
The company’s leadership, led by chief executive Julie Sweet, has reportedly made it clear that reskilling remains the preferred option, but not all employees will make the cut.
“We are moving on a compressed timeline,” Sweet told investors on a call. “Where reskilling simply isn’t a viable path, we are making the difficult choice to exit people," she said, as per the reports.
By the end of August, Accenture’s global workforce had fallen to 7,79,000, down from 7,91,000 just three months earlier. It was reported that severance and related expenses accounted for $615 million in the last quarter, with an additional $250 million anticipated in the current quarter.
Despite the cuts, Accenture maintained that it would continue to expand operating profit margins at its historic annual rate of at least 10 basis points in the next fiscal year.
While trimming its human workforce, Accenture is simultaneously ramping up investment in generative AI. In the recently closed financial year, AI-related projects accounted for $5.1 billion in new bookings, a significant increase from $3 billion the previous year.
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Jai Bhim: Slogan that energised Dalits was first given at this central Maharashtra village
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): 'Jai Bhim': These two words have come to symbolise the awakening and empowerment of the Dalit community in independent India, but not many people know how it originated.
The slogan, which also encapsulates the immense reverence in which Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is held, was first raised at the Makranpur Parishad, a conference organised at Makranpur village in Kannad teshil of today's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in Maharashtra.
Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's Constitution, died on December 6, 1956.
Bhausaheb More, the first president of the Scheduled Castes Federation of Marathwada, organised the first Makranpur Parishad on December 30, 1938.
Dr Ambedkar spoke at the conference and asked the people not to support the princely state of Hyderabad under which much of central Maharashtra then fell, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Pravin More, Bhausaheb's son.
"When Bhausaheb stood up to speak, he said every community has its own deity and they greet each other using the name of that deity. Dr Ambedkar showed us the path of progress, and he is like God to us. So henceforth, we should say 'Jai Bhim' while meeting each other. The people responded enthusiastically. A resolution accepting 'Jai Bhim' as the community's slogan was also passed," More told PTI.
"My father came in contact with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in his early years. Bhausaheb was aware of the atrocities the Nizam state committed on Dalits. He told Ambedkar about these atrocities, including the pressure to convert. Dr Ambedkar was strongly against these atrocities, and he decided to attend the 1938 conference," he said.
As Ambedkar was against the princely states, he was banned from giving speeches in the Hyderabad state but was allowed to travel through its territories. The Shivna river formed the border between Hyderabad and British India. Makranpur was chosen as the venue for the first conference because it was on the banks of Shivna but lay in the British territory, ACP More said.
The stage made of bricks, from where Dr Ambedkar addressed the conference, still stands. The conference is organised on December 30 every year to carry forward Ambedkar's thought, and the tradition was not discontinued even in 1972 when Maharashtra experienced one of the worst droughts in it history.
"My grandmother pledged her jewellery for the conference expenses. People from Khandesh, Vidarbha and Marathwada attended it. Despite a ban imposed by the Nizam's police, Ambedkar's followers crossed the river to attend the event," said ACP More.
"This is the 87th year of Makranpur Parishad. We have deliberately retained the venue as it helps spread Ambedkar's thought in rural areas," he added.
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