Uber cuts down 600 jobs in India stating "unpredictable nature of recovery"

Uber, one of the leading cab-riding services, is cutting 25% of its workforce in India. Earlier this month, the tech giant laid of 6700  total employees in the world. This move comes to cut costs and move towards a more "predictable" recovery. The company announced this in an email to the employees.

What will Uber employees get?

The job cuts will affect teams across customer and driver support, business development, legal, policy, marketing, and finance. It is a part of the company’s global restructuring. Like all the previous layoffs, this time too, Uber will provide 10 to 12 weeks of salary to the employees who were being let go. The employees will also get to keep their medical insurance for the next six months.

What did the CxOs have to say?

Pradeep Parameswaran, President for Uber’s India and South Asia businesses, said (via a spokesperson):

The impact of Covid-19 and the unpredictable nature of the recovery has left Uber India with no choice but to reduce the size of its workforce. Around 600 full-time positions across driver and rider support, as well as other functions, will be impacted. These reductions are part of previously announced global job cuts this month. Today is an incredibly sad day for colleagues leaving the Uber family and all of us at the company. We made the decision now so that we can look to the future with confidence.

Further, he also apologises to the people laid-off and thanked them for their contributions to Uber.

Uber's competitor follows the same move

India announced a lockdown in late March. The Government shut down all public transport in the country. This affected the cab-riding business. Thus, earlier this month, Ola, too, downsized 35% of its workforce. Further, this is the case all around the world. The Covid-19 outbreak has disrupted several industries in India including food delivery, hospitality and travel.

Food delivery startups Swiggy and Zomato, too, eliminated 2,100 and 500 jobs, respectively. Uber sold its Indian food delivery business to Zomato earlier this year. Travel and hospitality firms such as MakeMyTrip and Oyo have also cut several jobs. They have furloughed thousands of employees in recent months as their revenues dropped significantly.

Recently, the company also has decided to move its Asian Pacific HQ from Singapore. It is going under a huge paradigm shift. In recent weeks, though, Ola and Uber have resumed services in several parts of the country.

Read More: 5 reasons why Uber might be looking to expand its Asian Pacific headquarters in India