Innodata layoffs affect about 550 employees in India; shares fall 28%
Key Facts
About 550 employees in India were affected by Innodata layoffs on October 26, 2026, India Today reported, while the company had not publicly confirmed the total number affected in India and the Philippines when the report was published the following day. The newspaper also reported cuts to the company’s teams in the Philippines, without specifying the number of employees there. India Today reviewed a termination letter for one employee, which said his last working day was October 26. The letter attributed the decision to a reduction in the scope of the work assignment the employee had been hired for. This provides an operational reason in one individual case, but does not establish the scale of the cuts or explain the reasons for other cases reported by the newspaper.
The report quoted an employee as saying that a WhatsApp group was created to find affected colleagues and had about 500 members by evening. “We had about 500 people, all of them unaware of what was happening and in a state of panic,” the employee said. The group’s size does not establish that all its members were laid off or worked in the same teams and locations. The newspaper also published text from the termination letter saying the company had decided to end the employee’s service “because of a reduction in the scope of the work assignment you were hired for.” This remains the text of an individual letter reviewed by the newspaper, not a public statement from Innodata explaining its layoff policy or the total number of jobs affected.
The company’s earlier figures provide context on the size of its workforce before the reported layoffs: Innodata said in its annual report that it employed 10,107 people as of December 31, 2025, including 10,020 full-time employees. But that figure dates to the end of last year and does not establish the number of employees after the October events. In its second-quarter 2026 results, the company reported revenue of $92.1 million, up 58% year over year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $25.4 million, compared with $13.2 million in the same period a year earlier. Net income also reached $14.4 million, up from $7.2 million a year earlier, according to the company’s results released on August 6.
Then-CEO Jack Abuhoff said the second quarter marked “the twelfth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth.” Adjusted gross margin was 49%, above the stated target of 40%, which the company attributed to revenue mix, including high-value ready-made datasets and pre-training programs. Second-quarter data showed a shift in customer mix: the largest customer’s share fell from 56% in the first quarter to 37%, while the share of a large technology customer rose from 17% to 34%. In its first-half filing, the company said one customer accounted for about 46% of revenue, compared with 59% in the corresponding period of 2025, while another customer accounted for about 26%. These figures provide context on the company’s business and revenue concentration, but do not link its financial results to the layoffs reported in October.
As part of its expansion in robotics, Innodata announced on September 30 the opening of a research and development lab for data needed to train the next generation of humanoid robots and independently validate their performance data. The company said the lab, established in collaboration with Vicon, uses optical motion-capture cameras that measure movements with submillimeter accuracy. It said motion-capture data can be supplied in ready-made packages or through custom projects. The company had reaffirmed its forecast for revenue growth of 40% or more year over year in 2026. The second-quarter results also announced a leadership transition effective September 30, under which Rahul Singhal became CEO and Abuhoff became executive chairman.
Innodata shares fell 28% during trading on Tuesday, October 27, following layoff reports, according to Investing.com, which said the stock recorded its biggest intraday drop since February 2024. The move came after India Today published its report on October 27. The stock had closed at $59.39 on October 23 and then at $59.91 on October 26, according to EL7 data; both closes preceded the report and do not measure the market’s response to it. Innodata scheduled the release of its third-quarter results after the market close on Thursday, November 5, 2026. The company also scheduled an investor call for the same day at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. The upcoming results give the company an opportunity to present its latest business performance, while the available information contains no public confirmation of the total layoffs or the number affected in the Philippines.