Target Lays Off 150 Employees in India Amid Global Corporate Restructuring

According to various media reports, US retailer Target Corporation is letting off roughly 150 workers from its global capabilities centre (GCC) in India. The action is a component of the company's broader worldwide restructuring, which also includes the largest personnel decrease in ten years: 1,800 corporate job layoffs.

The cutbacks, which account for 8% of Target's worldwide layoffs and roughly 3% of its Indian staff, coincide with dismal macroeconomic conditions and slow sales. The retailer had about 5,500 employees in India as of August. Which GCC divisions were impacted and what kind of severance compensation was being offered were not immediately apparent.

Why the Company is Opting for Layoffs?

As part of a larger cost-cutting initiative, Target plans to terminate about 800 open positions worldwide at the same time as the layoffs. Additionally, the business is automating a number of processes to increase productivity and lower labour expenses.

Target's layoffs coincide with reports that Amazon, another large retailer, is cutting 1,000–1,500 workers in India across business divisions like AWS, Prime Video, and its retail division. More than 20 years ago, Target opened its first GCC store in India in Bengaluru, making it one of the first international retailers to do so. The centre serves the supply chain, engineering, analytics, and customer experience departments of the business.

India’s GCC Segment

Originally serving as back-office support centres, retail GCCs in India have developed into strategic centres of excellence that propel innovation and business-critical projects for their parent organisations. More than 70 retail and consumer packaged products GCCs employ more than 85,000 people in India, according to ANSR data. With GCCs for businesses like Walmart, Lowe's, JCPenney, Hudson Bay, Ikea, Falabella, Tesco, and Albertsons—the majority of whom don't have physical locations in India—Bengaluru continues to be a major hub for these kinds of operations.

These centres today help parent firms maintain their competitiveness in international markets by playing a crucial role in technology development, corporate transformation, and product ownership. Experts in the field point out that rather than a retreat from India, the current wave of layoffs at major retailers represents a strategic pivot towards automation and AI-led productivity.

According to a senior consultant with a global consultancy firm, retail GCCs are recalibrating to balance technology leverage and human resources. India remains a top technology and innovation destination for international retailers despite the downsizing because of its vast skill pool, cost-effectiveness, and domain knowledge in retail technology and e-commerce.