The pandemic has been taking its toll on businesses worldwide. The latest victim is the Indiabulls Group, which is laying off over 2,000 employees at the end of the financial year 2019-2020. As per the Company, the decision has been taken following a performance review of all the employees, which is a yearly practice. However, the employees have a different story to tell.
While few employees of the housing finance and wealth management company have disclosed that they were asked to leave over Whatsapp calls, some have taken to social media to express their disappointment. On Twitter, some said they had been asked to resign by May 31 and that there was no talk of any severance package, and the salaries are to be disbursed only for this month.
In one of its branches in Nagpur, an employee said that their manager had asked almost 50 per cent of the staff to resign by May 31, as the Company was facing financial issues due to its inability to generate business during the lockdown.
However, Gagan Banga, vice-chairman and chief executive officer, Indiabulls Housing Finance, has denied such claims. According to him, the staff was asked to leave based on their performance and not due to lack of business.
Justifying his statement, Banga said, “As the interest expenses are much more than the cost of salaries, the focus now is to manage these interest expenses.” He revealed that the cost to income ratio is 12.5 per cent.
There are chances of the Company hiring again in the second half of FY21, provided things return to normal.
The Company has not made any sanctions or disbursements in the past two months. While it has already reopened branches in the green zones, it is still preparing to reopen the ones in the orange zones. The employee strength of India Bulls stood at 26,000 for the financial year 2019-20.
