Amazon is actively hiring in India despite the ongoing global corporate layoffs announced on October 27, 2025, which target up to 30,000 corporate roles primarily in the US and other high-cost regions. This pattern aligns with broader industry trends where US tech firms cut domestic jobs while expanding in cost-effective markets like India, effectively offshoring roles to maintain efficiency and reduce expenses. Below, I'll break it down based on recent reports and data.
Current Hiring in India
Amazon continues to post and fill job openings across India, focusing on tech, operations, and customer service roles. Key highlights as of late October 2025:
- Volume of Openings: Over 1,500 active job listings on platforms like Naukri.com and AmbitionBox, with Amazon's official careers site (amazon.jobs) showing hundreds more searchable by location (e.g., Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurgaon). Unstop reports 1,500+ roles in domains like software engineering, data science, HR, marketing, sales, and legal.
- Types of Roles:
- Tech-heavy: Software Development Engineer (SDE-I) for 2025 grads, program management, distributed systems.
- Operations: RME Manager (Gurgaon), WHS Manager (Maharashtra), Transportation Specialist (Hyderabad).
- Entry-Level/Remote: Customer Support Associates (work-from-home in Telangana), MyHR Support Advisors (PAN India, freshers eligible, ~₹4.5 LPA).
- Recent Announcements:
- Off-campus drives for 2024-2026 freshers in engineering and operations (e.g., October 16, 2025, via FreshersNow).
- TechGig highlighted SDE and program manager openings for innovative projects as of October 2025.
- Reddit discussions (r/leetcode) confirm Amazon is interviewing and offering SDE-I roles to 2025 Indian grads, though some note delays for certain batches.
- Historical Context with Updates: Amazon's 2021 pledge to create 1 million direct/indirect jobs in India by 2025 is on track, with over 1.3 million created so far (per smbhav.amazon.in). This includes expansions in e-commerce, AWS, and logistics, unaffected by the current US-focused cuts.
These opportunities are open to freshers (B.Tech, Diploma, Graduates) and experienced hires, with a mix of on-site (e.g., 35 cities like Bengaluru, Chennai) and remote options.
Connection to Layoffs: Evidence of Offshoring
The layoffs—Amazon's largest corporate cuts ever, spanning finance, ops, engineering, and business services (L5-L8 levels)—are driven by CEO Andy Jassy's cost-reduction push, including AI integration and flatter hierarchies. While global (impacting ~10% of corporate staff), they disproportionately hit US/white-collar roles, with ripple effects in India (e.g., past cuts of hundreds in engineering/shared services).
However, this coincides with aggressive India expansion:
- Direct Offshoring Signals:
- X (Twitter) chatter post-layoff announcement (October 27, 2025) explicitly calls out Amazon "hiring 20k extra H1Bs and opening an IT hub in India" or "skyrocket[ing] hiring in India" to offset US losses. Users report patterns of Indian hiring managers favoring compatriots, locking out US candidates.
- Broader 2023-2025 Trend: Up to 40% of global tech layoffs (300,000+ jobs) have shifted to outsourcing hubs like India, per Economic Times. Amazon's India headcount grew 35% in the last year vs. 12% globally, per Xpheno data.
- AI and Cost Factors: Jassy's June 2025 memo noted AI would shrink some roles but create others—often in lower-cost regions like India for support/tech ops. This mirrors 2025 tech layoffs (91,000+ jobs cut industry-wide, per India Today), where firms like Meta and TCS automate US jobs while hiring abroad.
- India-Specific Layoff Impact: Minimal so far; older reports (e.g., 2022 Economic Times) noted small cuts (~hundreds), but 2025 hiring outpaces this. Amazon's PXT (HR) team, hit hardest globally, still recruits in India for related roles.
| Aspect | US/Global Layoffs | India Hiring/Expansion |
|---|
| Scale | Up to 30,000 corporate jobs (Oct 2025 announcement); 27,000+ cut since 2022. | 1,500+ active openings; 1.3M+ jobs created toward 2025 goal. |
| Focus Areas | Finance, ops, engineering managers (L5-L8); AI-driven reductions. | SDE, operations, customer support; freshers/remote emphasis. |
| Rationale | Cost-cutting, bureaucracy reduction, AI efficiencies. | Market growth, logistics/tech hubs; lower labor costs (~30-50% less than US). |
| Timeline | Notifications start Oct 28, 2025; ongoing through 2025. | Drives ongoing (e.g., Oct 16 off-campus); 2025 grad hires active. |
| Net Effect | Workforce shrinkage in high-cost areas. | Headcount growth; absorbing ~30-40% of offshored roles per industry trends. |
In summary, Amazon's strategy isn't pure "offshoring" in the classic sense (e.g., no confirmed 1:1 job transfers), but the timing and scale suggest a deliberate shift: trimming expensive US corporate layers while scaling affordable India operations for similar functions.
