The trend of multi-billion-dollar tech companies announcing mass layoffs earned the disapproval of junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednesday, as he invited Indians sacked by the likes of Google, Facebook and Microsoft to return and join firms like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
"So-called Big Tech companies treating their employees and treating their workforce in what is really quite a shabby manner is obviously not agreeable to any one of us," Mr Chandrasekhar told NDTV.
"Our whole tech economy is growing so fast... we are limited by the availability of talent. I have addressed two groups of people who've been laid off recently, and I've said to them, come back to India because every company in the startup ecosystem is looking for world-class talent," he said.
"I think there is a growing realization that India is the place to be for the next few years as a digital economy and the opportunities, economy expand, and that you don't necessarily have to make the long trip to Silicon Valley," Mr Chandrasekhar said.
The minister said he had not spoken to the companies because most of them were US-based, but he had "reached out to those who are having a tough time". "I will certainly render every help that I can, in making that little trip back and resettlement here possible," he said.
Mr Chandrasekhar said India's digital economy was "the fastest growing digital economy anywhere in the world" and there was "tremendous headroom for growth".
"Prime Minister Modi's policies have made it very, very obvious that opportunities are opening up in very diverse areas for youngsters who either want to work in a particular area or build their own enterprises and franchises and create their own startups in those areas, ranging from semiconductors to drones, to space," he said.
"Those who are in the US and are Indian, I say come back here in India and create ideas that will be deployable in the world... come back to India, and work for TCS if you're having a tough time in Silicon Valley with big tech," the minister said.
Mr Chandrasekhar's comments come as Big Tech firms and Wall Street titans lead a string of layoffs across corporate America, with companies trying to rein in costs to ride out a global economic downturn.
Rapid interest rate hikes and weak consumer demand have forced firms such as Amazon, Walt Disney, Facebook-owner Meta and American banks to trim their workforce.
As a pandemic-led demand boom rapidly fades, tech companies shed more than 150,000 workers in 2022, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi, and more layoffs are expected as growth in the world's biggest economies start to slow
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