Barclays fires 450 employees, a tenth of its workforce in India

England’s Barclays Bank has laid off around 450 employees in India, or close to a tenth of its workforce in the country, in the fourth and biggest retrenchment since December 2008. The latest job cut drive is much larger than the previous around where 150 employees were laid off in December 2009. Barclays had also pruned workforce in June 2009 and December 2008.

Now, the bank is looking to hire people in specialized functions such as premier banking relationship management. The jobs realignment can be viewed in the context of Barclays’ sharpened focus on corporate and investment banking, besides wealth management businesses in India.

Looking at their bi-annual retrenchment drive, there could be another round coming up in the next few months.