Covid-19 Impact: After Ola, Uber India Lays Off 600 Employees

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 27, May 2020, 15:51 pm IST | UPDATED: 28, May 2020, 9:38 am IST

Delhi: In a week after cab sharing company Ola laid off 1,400 employees, it’s now Uber India which has sacked 600 employees.

The job cuts have been implemented across various segments ranging from customer and driver support, business development, legal, finance, policy, and marketing verticals.

The only relief being offered to the affected employees is the 10-week payout and medical insurance coverage for the next six months.

"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, are being impacted. These reductions are part of previously announced global job cuts this month," Pradeep Parameswaran, President, Uber India and South Asia said in a statement, as mentioned in the Mint report.

Last week, Ola had sacked 1,400 employees from rides, financial services, and food business as the company's revenues slipped by 95 percent in the last two months because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal had emailed to employees stating the firm's revenue is down by 95 percent in the last two months and the prognosis for business is now "very unclear and uncertain". He added, the impact of this crisis is "definitely going to be long-drawn for us" due to the outbreak.

Earlier, Uber India had stated that it would turn profitable based on adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization by the end of this year. However, it had changed the estimate as lockdown measures to contain the Covid-19, impacted the ride-hailing business.

The San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc has been laying off its staff in the US. In total, the firm will cut a total of 6,700 jobs, including the 3,700 it had announced earlier, Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi had said, according to news agency Reuters. The company aims to cut investments in several “non-core projects.”

With this, 25 percent of the company’s global workforce is presently out of job.