One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, has reportedly laid off more than 1,000 employees across different departments as a strategic initiative to streamline operations and cut expenses.

As per The Economic Times report, the layoffs, spanning the past few months, represent one of the most substantial workforce downsizings in an Indian tech company this year.

The workforce reductions, affecting over 10 percent of Paytm’s total employees, come in the wake of recent events like discontinuing small-ticket consumer lending and halting its “buy now pay later” lending segment on the UPI platform.

Paytm declared earlier this month its intention to reduce the scale of its BNPL offering, Paytm Postpaid. The company expressed a cautious approach toward small-ticket loans in the future, emphasising a shift to concentrate on larger-sized personal loans and merchant loans.

Only a week ago, the premier payment company in the country announced plans to recruit over 50,000 individuals in sales. The objective is to onboard a greater number of merchants in smaller cities and towns as part of an overhaul of its array of money management products.

“We have learned and we will amplify our ability to serve India, its small merchants, and businesses. We should be crossing about 50 million merchant-base signed up on the Paytm platform in the year,” founder and CEO Sharma told Bloomberg.