Samsung India cuts 80-100 executives as cost pressures, weak demand squeeze TV and appliance units

Samsung India has begun laying off executives across its television and home appliance divisions, asking between 80 and 100 to leave in successive waves. The cuts reflect a company caught between rising costs it cannot control and a market that has stopped buying at the pace it once did.

The layoffs are happening in batches, affecting people at multiple levels—directors and team leads at headquarters, branch managers, area managers. Termination letters have been issued daily over recent weeks, sometimes without the courtesy of a notice period. The company is offering three months' salary as severance, plus an additional month for each year of service. But the scale of the cuts could expand significantly. Industry executives suggest that up to 25 percent of Samsung's sales and marketing workforce across its entire electronics business could eventually be affected, a figure that includes both direct employees and contract workers hired through staffing agencies. Samsung's domestic electronics sales team numbers between 550 and 600 executives before accounting for the much larger smartphone division.

The pressures driving these cuts are multiple and reinforcing. Memory chip prices have more than doubled. The Indian rupee has declined nearly 10 percent through the fiscal year, making smartphones and other electronics more expensive for consumers and cutting into margins. India's smartphone market itself has contracted, with volumes down 11 to 12 percent year-on-year. For Samsung, this matters acutely because mobile phones generate roughly three-quarters of the company's India revenue. The company has also struggled to gain traction in the high-value air-conditioner segment despite aggressive investment. Raw material costs have climbed across the board.

Yet Samsung's overall India business remains substantial. The company reported total revenue of 1.1 lakh crore in the fiscal year ending March 2025, up 12 percent from the prior year. Net profit rose 38 percent to 11,287 crore. Home appliances contributed around 11 percent of sales, making them the second-largest category after smartphones. The job cuts therefore reflect pressure on specific units rather than a collapse across the entire operation.

The smartphone division has been spared from the current round of cuts. Samsung is protecting this business because it remains the company's largest revenue driver and because management expects demand to improve during the Diwali season. The company's premium Galaxy Fold and Flip models have performed well, though the ultra-premium segment above 1 lakh rupees accounts for only about 4 percent of overall volumes. But there are warning signs. According to Counterpoint Research data, Samsung slipped to third place in India's smartphone market during April-June, behind Vivo and Oppo. Globally, Samsung's mobile business swung into an operating loss in the June quarter.

Beyond the layoffs, Samsung is restructuring its physical footprint. The company is consolidating its branch network, merging offices in several cities—Ranchi with Patna, Delhi with Gurgaon, Punjab with Chandigarh. These consolidations are creating redundant positions. Samsung had also proposed merging its home appliance and television sales teams to reduce costs and management layers, but that merger has been postponed to the December quarter.

The company has also raised prices on some smartphone models by 5 to 10 percent. The All India Mobile Retailers' Association reports that consumer footfall has fallen sharply by 40 percent amid the repeated price increases, a sign that higher costs are being passed to consumers at a moment when they are already pulling back.

Industry executives suggest that another round of layoffs could follow after Diwali, particularly in home appliances and television. The smartphone business will be evaluated later depending on how sales perform during the festive season. For now, Samsung is betting that the holiday period will bring relief. If it does not, the cuts could deepen.