Confirming the economic slowdown, companies across the US and Europe are planning major layoffs. However, the employees in India have largely been spared of these layoffs, although most of these companies have significant presence in the country. According to media reports, over 1,35,000 job cuts have been announced by just about a dozen multi-national companies in the past few months in their efforts to cut costs. Those having announced massive job cuts, include financial service giants like HSBC, Bank of America, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Lloyds Banking Group, as also consumer goods majors such as Whirlpool and Royal Philips Electronics.

Besides, mobile handset giant Nokia, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, drugmaker Merck & Co, aircraft and defense giant Boeing and networking technology major Cisco have also announced large-scale job cuts in their operations. Together, these companies have announced job cuts totaling more than 1,35,000 in their operations across the world, but the impact on India is estimated to be less than 1,000 employees.

Consumer electronics giant Royal Philips Electronics, which has reported a slump in third quarter earnings as a result of loss at its TV division, has said it would cut 4,500 jobs globally. Philips, which employed about 1,20,582 people globally at the end of September including about 9,000 in India, said job cuts are part of a plan to save $1.1 billion.