KPMG India unlikely to feel impact of global layoffs; headcount grew 35% last year

Mumbai: KPMG India is unlikely to feel the impact of global layoffs across the accounting firm, having grown its headcount by 35% last year and with fresh hires from over 100 graduate schools, engineering colleges, and B-schools this year.

"Our business outlook continues to remain very strong. Last year, our head count grew by 35% and this year we have hired freshers from over 100 campuses cutting across graduate, engineering and business schools. We at KPMG in India remain focused on growth opportunities in India and aligning our hiring to our growth strategy, engaging with potential talent and providing dynamic growth opportunities to all our people," said Sunit Sinha, partner and head – People, Performance and Culture at KPMG in India in an email response to Mint.

Sinha's response is one of the first on the impact of the layoffs on the Indian operations of the accounting firm. KPMG is cutting close to 2% of its workforce in the US, becoming the first of the world's four biggest accountancy firms to slash jobs in the country, according to report by the Financial Times.

The Big Four accounting firms comprise of EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, meanwhile, has said that it will add 30,000 employees to its India operations, taking the headcount to 80,000 over the next five years from 50,000 now.

“India is a strategically important geography for the PwC Network. We will continue to focus on enhancing our local capabilities and capacities.” In terms of opportunities for both campus recruits and experienced professionals, this is a “great time to join a globally inclusive team of talented professionals and gain skills for becoming future ready,” Sanjeev Krishan, chairperson, PwC in India, had said in a statement.

Gobal layoffs are leading to a domino effect and hiring freeze in other sectors. Google has announced retrenchments for 12,000 employees worldwide, joining the cohort of Meta, Facebook parent, which announced 11,000 job cuts this year. Amazon and Microsoft are trimming their workforce by 18,000 and 10,000, respectively.