Thousands of Accenture employees in India could lose their jobs as the IT firm is planning to lay off percent of its global workforce. Indians make up about 40 percent, or 2 lakh, of Accenture’s 5 lakh-strong workforce.

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) first reported news of the global job cuts at Accenture, quoting sources in the Australian unit, and remarks by CEO Julie Sweet in an internal meeting.

The news of the layoff was confirmed by the Times of India, which was told by a company spokesperson that the company will identify “approximately 5 percent of our people as our lowest performers” across all parts of the business and all career levels.

“We continue managing our business for the long-term and critical to this is ensuring we have the right people with the right skills to best serve our clients,” the spokesperson told the ToI. “In India, we continue to hire, and as part of our ongoing compensation programmes, we also recently recognised a number of our people with bonuses and promotions.”

Accenture has previously cut jobs in other markets such as laying off 900 employees in UK last month. The Guardian then reported the company saying in an internal memo that it “went into the crisis with an overcapacity of people relative to demand”.

“The crisis has caused additional strain on the business due to lower demand and reduced natural attrition,” the memo reportedly said.

The website CRN reported that Accenture CEO Sweet had sounded particularly upbeat at the start of the pandemic, telling analysts in March she was “feeling confident” and “in a significant position of strength”.