Ride hailing platform Uber is reportedly planning to lay off around 500-700 employees from its India unit as the company struggles to operate in the country.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, New Delhi has imposed a nationwide lockdown since March owing to which movement of people has come to a standstill. Taxi and transportation services across the country are now restricted hence affecting the ride aggregating companies to witness a loss of revenue.
According to a report by Entrackr, the company plans to layoff employees within the next two weeks.
The recent development comes just in the backdrop of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announcing the company’s decision to layoff about 3,700 employees worldwide in the next two weeks.
However, it is not yet certain whether the India unit layoffs will be a part of the global downsizing process or will come as a separate cost cutting measure for the Indian business.
Uber has over 2,000 employees in India, as per sources. It would be surprising to know if the company can actually lay off employees amidst the lockdown despite government guidelines to not go ahead with layoffs.
Meanwhile, there have also been reports about the company’s subsidiary in the Middle East, Careem. The Dubai-based ride-hailing company is reportedly also laying off 31% of its workforce.
These developments were much anticipated since the company’s Chief Technology Officer and its longest serving executive Thuan Pham resigned from the company.
