Innodata Locks Out About 550 Staff in India Without Warning; Philippines Team Also Hit
New Delhi, October 28: US-based AI data services firm Innodata has reportedly let go of around 550 employees in India, with more job cuts reported in the Philippines. The layoffs happened on October 26, 2026, and employees found their system access and official IDs deactivated without notice.
What happened
Staff in India logged in and marked attendance as usual, but by midday reports of layoffs were spreading. Employees lost access to internal systems, laptops and HR portals mid-shift, and termination notices went to their personal email addresses. Affected employees then formed WhatsApp groups to find out who else had been let go.
Reason given
According to India Today, the emails cited a reduction in business assignments and said the decision was linked to operational needs rather than individual performance. Some of the emails reportedly referred to a “ramp-down” of a business assignment.
Philippines also affected
Employees in the Philippines also reported mass layoffs, affecting raters, quality experts, team leads and managers.
Company yet to confirm
Innodata has not issued an official statement on the scale of the cuts. The company has not publicly confirmed the total number of employees affected across India and the Philippines.
Share price falls sharply
The news hit Innodata’s stock (NASDAQ: INOD) the next day. Shares fell 16% to $49.88 in premarket trading on Tuesday. By the trading session, the stock had dropped more than 27%. Investors reportedly fear the company may have lost a major AI client.
About the company
New Jersey-based Innodata provides AI data engineering services across the model development lifecycle, including training, post-training, evaluation and deployment. Its 10-K filing showed more than 10,000 employees at the end of 2025, which suggests the reported cuts are over 5% of its global workforce.
Add Business Connect magazine to your Google News feed