Paytm lays off 1000 employees, arrival of AI cited as reason; Goldman downgrades stock

NEW DELHI: In one of the biggest culls at a new-age unicorn, fintech giant Paytm has laid off more than 1000 employees from its operations, sales and engineering team.

While Paytm largely attributes the job cuts to the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) to increase efficiency, this exercise comes as the Noida-based company is scaling down its small loan disbursement business.

“We are transforming our operations with AI-powered automation to drive efficiency, eliminating repetitive tasks and roles to drive efficiency across growth and costs, resulting in a slight reduction in our workforce in operations and marketing. We will be able to save 10-15% in employee costs as AI has delivered more than we expected it to. Additionally, we constantly evaluate cases of non-performance throughout the year,” said Paytm’s spokesperson.