Early morning emails, sudden system lockouts and limited communication have come to define the ongoing layoffs at Oracle, with industry sources estimating that 10,000-12,000 jobs in India could be affected. The reductions are part of a broader restructuring exercise, with around 30,000 roles said to be impacted globally.
India, which has a workforce of roughly 50,000 employees and is often described internally as a second headquarters, appears to be among the hardest hit.
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The job cuts come as Oracle reportedly ramps up investments in AI data centre infrastructure, a capital-intensive expansion that has triggered restructuring efforts. As part of its first quarter fiscal 2026 disclosures, Oracle said it has approved and initiated a restructuring plan to improve operational efficiencies, with estimated costs of up to $1.6 billion. At the same time, the company is raising capital to expand capacity for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure customers, including AMD, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, TikTok and xAI.
Oracle expects to raise between $45 billion and $50 billion in gross cash proceeds during the current calendar year.
Cuts across multiple divisions
Significant layoffs have been reported across Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), RHS (Revenue and Health Sciences), SVOS (SaaS and Virtual Operations Services), and the India development centre of NetSuite. Employees affected span different levels, according to sources.
Several impacted staff described the process as abrupt and impersonal. Notifications were delivered via email, followed by immediate access restrictions. One employee was quoted as saying by The Times of India, "I tried to log in to the Oracle OCNA VPN, which is more domain-specific for my area of work. My Slack credentials didn't work either. We didn't see this coming so soon."
What did the 6 am email say?
Oracle informed employees about the layoffs through an email reportedly sent on March 31, some as early as 6 am EST. The message stated that roles had been terminated with immediate effect and asked staff to take steps to receive further communication.
The email, as reported by TOI, read:
"Immediate Action Required
To receive important follow-up information, including FAQs and separation documents to help you through this transition, you must provide a personal email address.
Please click here to submit a personal email address immediately. If you make a submission error, please re-submit a new form. Please Note: The personal email address will only be used for correspondence regarding separation-related information and severance agreements.
Access to your computer, email, voicemail, and files will be deactivated soon, and you will be unable to log into your computer. As a reminder, you are prohibited from downloading, copying or retaining (including emailing yourself) any Oracle confidential information."
Access revoked, communication shifted to personal email
The company reportedly instructed laid-off employees to share a personal email address to receive separation-related updates. Oracle clarified that the address would be used only for correspondence related to severance agreements and transition documents.
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The email also stated that access to company systems would be disabled and reminded employees that they are "prohibited from downloading, copying or retaining" confidential information. Staff were informed that access to computer systems, email, voicemail and files would be deactivated soon, stated TOI in its report.
Severance details for India development centre
For employees in the India development centre in Bengaluru, the severance package includes 15 days' salary for each year of service, encashment of accrued leave, and an additional ex gratia component of 15 days' pay per year of service plus two months' salary. The package also includes one month of garden leave or salary in lieu, along with Rs 20,000 towards insurance, reported TOI.
Even as layoffs continue, employees noted that some senior managers are being asked to identify AI-specific talent while working with existing resources, signalling a broader restructuring across teams.
