Reliance JioMart lays off 1,000 employees, more could be fired: Report

JioMart is now looking to focus on improving margins and reducing losses

Reliance Industries' JioMart has laid off over 1,000 employees and a bigger round of layoffs is set to take place within the next few weeks which will reduce the 15,000-strong workforce in the wholesale division by two-thirds, The Economic Times reported quoting sources.

“The company has asked over 1,000 people on ground including 500 executives at its corporate office to resign over the past few days. It also plans to have another large round of layoffs with hundreds of employees already put on performance improvement plan (PIP),” one of the sources told the publication.

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The source also added that the rest of the sales employees have been put on variable pay structure as Reliance has lowered their fixed pay salary.

JioMart triggered a price war in the grocery business-to-business space with heavy discounts and now is looking to focus on improving margins and reducing losses, the officials were quoted as saying in the report.

The move is aimed at aligning the operations with the acquisition of Metro Cash and Carry. Last week, Metro AG had announced completion of the sale of its Indian cash and carry business of 31 stores to Reliance Retail for Rs 2,850 crore after Reliance had acquired it in December last year.

With the addition of Metro’s permanent workforce of 3,500 people, there will be an overlap of roles both at the backend and online sales operations, the officials told the publication