Mumbai: Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal took X to share the news of the recent Reliance layoffs. In his post, he also questioned the media and asked why the news is quiet about it.
“42k? Why is this ‘quiet news’? Should be raising serious alarm bells across the economic & political circles,” wrote Mittal as he reshared a post talking about the Reliance layoffs
According to a report in the Economic Times, Reliance Industries Ltd. cut 42,000 jobs, or 11%, during the 2023–24 fiscal year compared to the previous year. This suggests cost-efficiency drives, and the report states that the reduction is particularly noticeable in its retail section. In 2023–24, Reliance Industries had 347,000 total employees; in 2022–2023 there were 389,000. The company’s annual report states that there were 170,000 fewer new hires, a decrease of more than a third.
The report quoted an analyst from a leading brokerage who did not wish to be named as saying, “The new lines of businesses (at Reliance) have matured now and have significant support from digital initiatives. Now they are a stage to better manage the operations with optimum strength. It doesn’t mean that the numbers (of headcount) won’t increase when new business opportunities emerge and strategy changes. They understand very well how to drive cost management and efficiency.”
In 2023–24, Reliance’s retail division employed 207,000 people, up from 245,000 the previous year, making up 60% of the company’s workforce. Reliance Retail did, however, add 3,300 new locations in 2023–2024, bringing its total number of stores to 18,040. Jio saw its number of employees reduce to 90,000 in 2023-24, compared to 95,000 the year prior.
