Swiggy to lay off 1,100 employees amid coronavirus crisis

Sriharsha Majety, co founder and CEO of Swiggy said that the company will scale down or shut down adjacent businesses that are either going to be highly volatile or will not be highly relevant for the next 18 months.

Swiggy will lay off more than 1,000 employees over the next few days as the coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted demand, the food delivery company said in a statement on Monday.

The move by Swiggy came days after restaurant aggregator Zomato said it will lay off around 13% of its workforce.(Sunil Ghosh/HT file photo)

“Today is one of the saddest days for Swiggy as we have to go through an unfortunate downsizing exercise. We, unfortunately, have to part ways with 1,100 of our employees spanning across grades and functions in the cities and head office over the next few days,” Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy’s co-founder and CEO, wrote in an email to the employees, according to the company’s blog.

“While Covid might have long-term tailwinds for the delivery business and digital commerce when things settle eventually, nobody knows how long the uncertainty will last. We, therefore, need to be prepared to see through this winter, to emerge stronger on the other side,” he said.

Majety said Swiggy will scale down or shut down adjacent businesses that are either going to be highly volatile or will not be highly relevant for the next 18 months.

“The biggest impact here is on the cloud kitchens business, with many unknowns about volumes through the year. Since the onset of Covid, we have already begun the process of shutting down our kitchen facilities temporarily or permanently, depending on their outlook and profitability profile,” he said.

Swiggy will have to cut expenses to be able to achieve profitability with a smaller order volume than planned earlier, he said. The company needs to reduce costs in order to “withstand any further risks” from the Covid-19 uncertainty, he added.

The move by Swiggy came days after restaurant aggregator Zomato said it will lay off around 13% of its workforce.