Krutrim has carried out another round of layoffs, cutting about 20 to 25 employees, or nearly half of its workforce, as the Bhavish Aggarwal-led artificial intelligence startup continues to reshape itself around AI cloud infrastructure and enterprise services.
The latest reductions mark the company’s second restructuring round this year. Earlier cuts had affected sales, go-to-market, and business operations. The fresh round has hit product and engineering teams, signalling that the restructuring is now deeper than a commercial reorganisation and is reaching core product-building functions.
The layoffs follow a strategic reset at Krutrim. The company had earlier stepped back from parts of its original full-stack AI plan, including work on indigenous large language models and semiconductor ambitions, and shifted attention toward Krutrim Cloud, Maps, and enterprise services. That pivot narrowed the operating focus of a company that had initially been positioned as one of India’s high-profile attempts to build sovereign AI infrastructure across models, compute, and software services.
Krutrim said in May that its FY26 revenue had crossed Rs 300 crore and that it had turned profitable. Reporting around the company’s financial profile has also indicated that a large portion of revenue came from Ola Group companies, with external customers making up the balance. That detail is relevant because the strength of Krutrim’s standalone enterprise demand will be tested as it attempts to build a cloud and services business beyond internal group usage.
Employees have also raised concerns over delayed reimbursements for travel, hotel stays, and other work expenses. Former employees have alleged delays in full-and-final settlements, with some payments reportedly made in instalments. These claims add an operational dimension to the restructuring, particularly for a company trying to maintain credibility with enterprise customers and technical talent.
The development comes while the broader Ola Group remains under pressure. Ola Electric has faced market-share erosion over the past year, and its shares have fallen sharply since the company’s 2024 market debut amid regulatory scrutiny and operating challenges. Against that backdrop, Krutrim’s narrower AI infrastructure strategy appears to be part of a broader push to conserve resources, simplify execution, and focus on business lines with nearer-term monetisation potential.
For India’s AI startup ecosystem, Krutrim’s restructuring is a reminder that full-stack AI remains capital-intensive, talent-heavy, and difficult to scale without durable customer demand. The company’s next phase will depend on how effectively it can convert its cloud and enterprise-services focus into external revenue while retaining the technical credibility needed in a competitive AI infrastructure market.
