Is 40 the new layoff age in corporate India?

At 40, Indian professionals face layoffs as firms favor younger, cheaper talent, leaving mid‑career workers battling bias, stalled growth, and shrinking roles

For decades, turning 40 was seen as the pinnacle of a corporate career in India — a stage when experience translated into leadership, stability, and authority. Today, that promise is unravelling. Across industries, professionals in their forties are increasingly finding themselves side-lined, as companies recalibrate hiring priorities toward younger, cheaper, and more adaptable talent.

At 43, Pallavi left her Delhi office with a severance package and a desk plant, her role abruptly labelled “non-essential.” Meanwhile, at 22, Meera sits in a technology firm, watching her workload shrink into monotony. Together, their stories capture the paradox of the modern workplace: mid-career professionals are being laid off, while younger employees are hired but often underutilized.

Recruiters admit, often privately, that candidates in their late 20s and early 30s are preferred. They are perceived as cost-efficient, easier to mould, and quicker to adapt to new technologies. By contrast, decades of experience are rebranded as “expensive,” “rigid,” or “not a cultural fit.” Promotions slow, calls from recruiters’ fade, and coded HR phrases — “fresh energy,” “smarter profiles,” “overqualified” — mask an age bias that is rarely acknowledged outright.

The shift is not dramatic but gradual, a quiet recalibration of value. Experience is praised in speeches yet overlooked in decisions. For many professionals, the real career battle now begins at 40: not to climb higher, but to remain relevant in a system that prizes speed and youth.

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A senior HR executive with 15 years of experience recently shared her struggle of prolonged unemployment, unable to secure even mid-level roles. Recruiters cited “misaligned salary expectations,” while managers worried about her ability to “blend in” with younger teams. Such cases are no longer isolated.

The result is a widening gray zone. Professionals in their forties are deemed too senior for mid-level roles, yet not “high-potential” enough for CXO positions. In India’s fast-changing corporate landscape, 40 has become less a milestone and more a fault line — a reminder that the value of age and experience is being rewritten, often without announcement.

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