Microsoft may lay off more if warranted: Ballmer

Software giant Microsoft, which has announced cutting 5,000 jobs including 55 in India, today said it may look at more layoffs if the economic downturn dramatically worsens again.

"Presuming the economy hopefully stays as bad as it is and doesn't get dramatically worse, we will finish our plan, but if it gets dramatically worse again, we will look at things again," Microsoft Corporation CEO Steve Ballmer told reporters here.      

The Redmond-based company had in January announced that it would axe 5,000 jobs globally amid the ongoing slowdown.     
It yesterday announced slashing one per cent of its 5,500-strong Indian workforce, amounting to 55 layoffs, in a bid to realign its business in the country.      

It added that it would continue to hire and create employment opportunities in line with the recovery and growth of the Indian economy.      

"We had said that we would lay-off about 5,000 people. We are still filling other jobs. We are mostly through that process globally and there is still some work to do," Ballmer said.      

"There are areas where we are continuing to add people. As I said, these are global additions, so it is a little hard to separate our work globally from our work in India," he added.