Samsung India is reportedly cutting its workforce as its consumer electronics business faces heat due to rising input costs, weaker sales, and margin pressure.
For now, Samsung’s smartphone division has been kept outside the restructuring, given that it is the company’s biggest business in India. A recovery in phone sales could have a significant impact on the Korean major’s overall financial performance in the country. Samsung’s phones and most of its electronic products have become more expensive, affecting sales growth Although the currency remained largely stable during the current fiscal year after hitting a trough in May.
The company has begun handing out termination letters in small batches, with 80-100 executives in its television and home appliance divisions asked to leave so far, the Economic Times reported, citing multiple industry executives who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The company has 550-600 executives in its domestic electronics sales team, apart from a much larger sales organisation dedicated to smartphones. The pressure on the India business has also been aggravated by the rupee’s nearly 10% decline through FY26.
“Up to 25% of its sales and marketing workforce in the electronics business including off-roll employees hired through manpower agencies, could be affected,” said one of the executives cited in the report. An employee affected by the layoffs told ET that termination letters have been issued every day over the past few days, in small batches, with employees being asked to leave without serving their notice periods.
Phones account for three-fourths of Samsung’s revenue in India. The company has also failed to make significant headway in the high-value air-conditioner segment despite an aggressive push this year. Rising raw material prices have added to the pressure on its consumer electronics business.
