India, Aug. 5 -- Global payments giant Visa has laid off around 2,600 employees, or about 7 percent of its global workforce, with several of those affected based in India.

According to a LiveMint report, employees in India received termination emails between 4 am and 5 am on July 29, catching many off guard and dealing a major blow to the affected workers.

The layoffs come as Visa accelerates the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across its business operations.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ryan McInerney reportedly told employees that the job cuts were aimed at improving efficiency and positioning the company for future growth.

"Today, we announced that we are eliminating roles, with the majority being in our technology and...