Adidas cuts half of tech staff at Indian hub

Adidas is laying off nearly half of the workforce at its technology hub in Gurgaon, India, cutting around 350 jobs in a major restructuring of its global engineering operations.

The sportswear giant announced the redundancies during an internal town hall meeting on Tuesday, 15 September. The cuts hit software engineers, data scientists, and data engineers at the facility, which had employed roughly 700 people.

First reported by the media outlet Wocult, the layoffs target a hub that Adidas set up in 2021 specifically to attract and develop top-tier Indian engineering talent. Three years later, those plans have been sharply scaled back.

How are the layoffs being managed?

The company has split the affected staff into two groups, according to people familiar with the matter. The first group received their exit letters on Tuesday, bringing their time at the company to an abrupt end.

The second group is being kept on until 15 December to manage a handover. Their job over the next three months will be to transfer their responsibilities to colleagues working at other Adidas technology hubs around the world.

While those in the second group have been given time to search for other positions within the company, anyone who fails to secure a new role by 15 December will be let go. Adidas has not publicly disclosed what severance terms, notice pay, or transition support it is offering to the affected employees.

Why is Adidas cutting roles?

In a statement, Adidas confirmed it was cutting roles in India but declined to specify exactly how many workers were losing their jobs. It described the move as a "difficult decision" designed to streamline its operations.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to align our operating model with the evolving needs of the business, we have made the difficult decision to reduce a number of roles within our Technology organisation in India," the company said. It added that the changes are intended to simplify the organisation, strengthen critical capabilities, and position the business for long-term growth.

Despite the scale of the layoffs, the firm insisted that India remains a "strategically important market" and said the Gurgaon site would continue to play a critical role in its global digital transformation. The Gurgaon office houses both the technology hub and Adidas's local marketing operations. The company has expanded its broader corporate footprint in India in recent years, including opening a Global Business Services facility in Chennai in 2024.