Ride hailing cab operator Uber is going though its third employee downsizing operation worldwide. Its Indian operations too are hit by this move, though reports say the number of people affected here is not more than 10% of the total strength reduction.
From October 1, this year, the Indian arm of the US company is functioning as an independent entity, Uber India Systems. It is no longer part of the Netherlands-registered Uber BV. There are reportedly 2,600 employees working for Uber in India and this latest action to reduce staff strength by 350 means around 30-35 from India have been asked to leave. There is no clarity on which function or department has been picked for the staff reduction.
Indian operations are a challenge to Uber, since the expenditure levels are high when compared to a contribution of just 2% to the global revenue. The food delivery business UberEats is a drag on the company’s operations here. Though there have been attempts to sell off the arm separately to either of the big players, Swiggy or Zomato, the deal has not materialised, primarily due to disagreement on the valuation of the asset.
Uber has been trying to come to terms with its IPO not faring well in the market and the aftermath of that financially. There have been two earlier occasions as well, when Uber reduced its employee count. With the 350 layoffs in this round, around 1,200 people have been shown the door till now. This figure represents just 1% of the worldwide headcount the company employs.
Of the three instances, the second one went without any employee from India being asked to leave. The first one certainly found those from the marketing and analytics teams losing their jobs. There is anxiety on which ones have been asked to leave this time. Incidentally, the CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi is also scheduled to be in India later this month.