Zomato—Eternal/Zomato laid off ~240-250 customer support staff, shutting Hyderabad 'customer delight' centre amid AI automation push
Eternal (Zomato) laid off approximately 240-250 employees in its Hyderabad customer support ('customer delight') operations and shut the centre, as the company continued shifting customer service to AI and automation. The company offered counselling services through March 2027, transferred company-issued laptops and earphones to affected employees, and provided outplacement assistance. This follows a similar 500-600 person AI-driven customer-support layoff round in April 2025, and comes amid broader industry scrutiny of food-delivery platforms over food safety and hygiene standards.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Responsible Automation | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Worker Rights | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.483 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.64)
Evidence (2 signals)
Inc42/Hindustan Times: Zomato lays off 240 employees, shuts Hyderabad customer support operations
Inc42 and Hindustan Times reported Zomato laid off roughly 240 employees in its Hyderabad 'customer delight' section and shut the operation, part of a shift toward AI-driven customer support, noting the move came amid wider scrutiny of food-delivery platforms over food safety and hygiene.
CNBC-TV18: Eternal to lay off around 250 employees as it shuts Hyderabad customer support centre
CNBC-TV18 reported Eternal (Zomato) would lay off around 250 employees as it shut its Hyderabad customer support centre, offering counselling through March 2027 and outplacement assistance.