The Indian arms of global banks have started cutting jobs in sync with the restructuring of operations overseas and with business volumes declining due to the economic slowdown. Some of the bigger foreign banks with retail banking operations in India have also started reducing the number of employees in their consumer banking operations, according to bankers familiar with the matter.

On Thursday, Goldman Sachs slashed its workforce by close to a dozen in its Mumbai office. The Mumbai office, opened a couple of years ago, has close to 100 people working in investment banking, investment research, equity sales, corporate finance, private equity besides asset management. Goldman Sachs has also lowered its headcount by close to 30 officials in its outsourcing arm in Bangalore where it has a staff strength of more than 2,900.

Goldman has said that it would cut close to 10% of its workforce globally. Credit Suisse has also slashed some jobs in the country. A Credit Suisse official spokesperson said, “Due to market conditions and projected staffing levels required to meet client needs, we are reducing our global headcount by approximately 500 across our investment banking division and certain support functions.”

The Mumbai office now has around 160 officials in investment banking, research, equity sales, corporate finance among other functions. It has doubled the staff strength in its I-banking department in the last one year and now has 25-30 officials.

Other than equity and support functions, both these firms have also cut jobs in the investment banking business. Goldman Sachs has also reduced the number of staffers in its principal investment business. The firm, which was also considering seeking a primary dealership license, has now put this on the backburner although it will go ahead with its asset management plans. Credit Suisse is also said to have put on hold its plans for AMC business.

According to Thomson Reuters, equity market offerings in India are down by 77% to $6.1 bil-lion, while in Asia the business is down by 62.4% to $96 billion. Bankers said that most banks had built up their team in the country in the past one year hoping that business volumes would go up substantially. Senior bankers pointed that banks are currently looking at cutting only excess flab.

“We have received a number of calls from I-bankers, especially those working with the foreign banks. The calls have multiplied many fold in the past one month,” said Talent Trackers founder Shekhar Vaishnav. “Two American banks have started ‘soft-firing’. This means that employees have intimated to look out for jobs by January 15, 2009, but in a discreet manner, so that the bank’s reputation does not get affected,” he added.

Merrill Lynch, which had earlier told 20 of its staffers to go, now has laid off more officials in a second round exercise. Foreign banks such as HSBC is also said to be looking at downsizing its staff in personal loan, credit card and some of the other segments. Sources said that the bank could be looking at downsizing by around 200 officials. Bank officials said: “We have not asked staff to put in their papers.

We assess our businesses and our business strategy on an ongoing basis. If, as a result, staff are freed up from one activity, the effort is to redeploy them in other businesses and activities. However current dynamic market conditions require that every organisation's business strategies be flexible enough to take on emergent challenges and opportunities.”

ABN Amro is also said to be looking at a similar exercise in the con-sumer side. Sources said the bank is looking at a major round of lay-offs across Asia. However, an ABN Amro spokesperson said, “We have not announced any job cuts or rightsizing of businesses.” The bank is likely to retrench staff in its credit cards and personal loan segments. It is also looking at other departments too.