Adidas India Tech Layoffs: Why the 20% and 40–50% Figures Don't Match

Adidas has confirmed job cuts inside its India technology organisation, and the argument that followed is less about whether they happened than about how large they were. The company's published statement puts the impact at under 20% of that organisation. Anonymous posts in an employee discussion group, reviewed by MartechAI and reported by exchange4media on 18 September 2026, claim the real figure is closer to 40–50%. Because both numbers are circulating at once, searches for adidas picked up in India in the days that followed.

What Adidas has confirmed, and what its figure covers

The company has not disputed that reductions took place in its India technology arm. Its statement, published by Business Today on 17 September 2026, describes the changes as a way to simplify the organisation and strengthen critical capabilities. Adidas also says India remains strategically important, that it is providing transition support, and that affected staff are being directed to open roles elsewhere in the company.

The scope of that official number matters. It covers the India Technology organisation, not Adidas's entire India headcount, so comparing it with a company-wide figure is not like-for-like.

Where the 40–50% claim comes from

The higher number does not come from an audit, a regulatory filing or a company spokesperson. It comes from screenshots of an internal employee discussion group. One participant, pushing back on the official line, alleged that the cuts took roughly 40–50% of the workforce.

The report is explicit about the limits of that material. The posts are anonymous, some accounts carry only a label saying the person works at Adidas, and the screenshots do not confirm who the posters are or whether what they allege is true. Treat 40–50% as a disputed employee claim, not a verified count.

The figures now in circulation

Figure	Source	What it covers
Under 20%	Adidas statement, published 17 Sep 2026	India Technology organisation
40–50%	Anonymous posts in employee chat screenshots	India technology workforce, as alleged
15%	Related headline on the same exchange4media page, attributed to a report	Adidas's wider India workforce

That third figure is easy to mix up with the others. A related headline on the same page reports a 15% cut across Adidas's wider India workforce — a different denominator from the technology organisation, and one the article does not break down further.

Redeployment is the sharper dispute

Beyond arithmetic, the screenshots raise a question about process. Posters allege that leaders moved into alternative positions while people below them lost jobs, and that lower levels of a team referred to as "BCT" were cut while its leader found another role. The report notes that the screenshots do not establish the team's full name, how many people it had, how deep any reduction went, or the circumstances of individual transfers.

That distinction matters. A leadership transfer on its own does not prove preferential treatment. Establishing that would require records of which roles were open, who was eligible and how selections were made — none of which is public. What the material does show is frustration: one commenter objected to career advice appearing in an alumni group while colleagues were still processing the news.

What the search trend does and does not show

Google Trends listed "adidas" as a trending term in India, observed on 20 September 2026 for the preceding 24-hour window, with roughly 200 approximate searches and about 75% growth. That timing sits just after the layoff reporting, which is consistent with news-driven interest.

It is not evidence about the layoffs themselves. The trend data's own note says the signal confirms search interest rather than the accuracy of news claims, and that the counts are approximate search activity, not website traffic.

What to watch next

• Any Adidas statement that specifies the size of the India technology organisation, which would let readers test the 20% figure directly.
• Whether the company publishes redeployment criteria or details of which roles were available.
• Independent reporting that moves the 40–50% claim beyond anonymous screenshots.

Until then, the fair summary is this: the cuts are confirmed; the official scale is under 20% of the India technology organisation as of the 17 September 2026 statement; and the higher figure remains an unverified employee allegation.