Strongly defending job cuts, the state's former information technology secretary Vivek Kulkarni said it is natural in times of recession to stay afloat.
"When there is no business, companies have to react; otherwise nobody will survive. Either you have to reduce everybody's salary, or you have to let some people go and move on with that," Kulkarni told PTI here.
"Because, if you do not have labour flexibility, you can't do business well," Kulkarni, who is currently the Chairman and CEO of knowledge process outsourcing firm Brickwork India, added.
He admitted that IT companies have resorted to various ways to lay off their staff.Some companies are forcing their managers to give a "lower-rate" to their employees so that they can be removed, citing "non-performance".
Kulkarni said he knows a company that lost an account of 6,000 people (staff working on an outsourcing contract). "What will you do (when that happens)? So, there will be temporary dislocation; no permanent harm," he said.
In times of recession, layoffs are quite natural. He said companies, which have lost big accounts and are operating from huge facilities after signing multi-year lease contract, are reducing and rationalising staff.