Global IT consulting giant Accenture is going to lay off around 25,000 employees or least 5% of its workforce due to the coronavirus pandemic, The Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday. India, which has the largest Accenture employee base of nearly 2 lakh employees, could see thousands of workers being affected by the move.

The outsourcing services provider, however, told IANS that they were not planning extraordinary actions. “Every year, as part of our performance process, we have conversations with our people about how they are performing, areas for improvement, their potential to progress, and whether they are a long term fit for Accenture,” the company said. “This year, across all parts of our business and all career levels, we will identify approximately 5% of our people as our lowest performers, and these individuals will transition out of Accenture. This is consistent with our actions each year.”

Accenture said that in India, employees were also given bonuses and promotion as part of their compensation.

At a staff meeting this month, Accenture Chief Executive Officer Julie Sweet had said that despite cutting sub-contractors and stopping new recruitment, the company still needed to reduce numbers because of the coronavirus crisis, according to The Australian Financial Review.

“In a normal year, we transition out about 5% and we hire to replace them, because we are in a demand scenario,” Sweet said. “Right now, we’re not in a demand scenario, so if we manage out the same percentage of people and don’t replace them, it allows us to continue to invest and preserve some people who have lower chargeability for when the market comes back. This year, in addition to the normal 5%, we’ve identified more people who need improvement...So we’re making sure...if we have to make other actions, we know where our performance is.”

The company’s growth has collapsed 1.3% due to the pandemic. Accenture has 5 lakh employees across more than 120 countries.