Bengaluru, a hub for IT and ITES companies, is currently witnessing layoffs of techies and people working in the private sector. With the lockdown in place, several companies have already started firing people; in a letter to the Union Labour Ministry, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has said that at least 496 people working in Bengaluru’s IT and ITES sectors have already lost their jobs.
CITU’s General Secretary Tapan Sen on Tuesday wrote to the Union Ministry of Labour, asking him to take action against employers who were not complying with the Union government’s advisory to not fire employees or give them pay cuts.
On March 20, The Union Ministry of Labour and Empowerment had issued a directive to all Chief Secretaries of respective state governments to issue advisories to public and private companies to not layoff employees or give them pay cuts at a time when a lockdown is in place in the wake of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic.
“Travel PD Co terminated one employee, Parallel Wireless in Bengaluru terminated 15 employees, Chumbak Design Private Ltd terminated 247 employees through forced resignation, Hula Infotainment terminated 30 employees, Hem and RAT terminated 4 employees, Mistefa terminated 60 employees through forced resignation, IVT Co terminated 22 employees, Flying Out terminated 90 employees,” Tapan Sen’s letter states.
Several companies have already given their employees massive pay cuts, he adds. On Thursday, Cognizant said that reduced client demand, mostly in the travel and hospitality industries had affected its business and for the first time the company withheld it’s annual revenue projection. Cognizant’s announcement comes after Accenture’s lowered revenue forecast earlier on March 20.
TNM had earlier reported that International Data Corporation’s analysis had indicated that hardware businesses would take a massive hit across the globe, which would affect the IT and ITeS industry as well. With several industries giving their employees a pay cut, there is fear of massive layoffs in the IT industry too. IT industry body Nasscom on Thursday put out a list of demands from the Union government. One of the primary suggestions was that IT companies be permitted to “bench” surplus employees, who will be paid minimum wages.