IT Sector: The Big LayOff

High levels of automation and a slowing economy have led to big job cuts in firms, especially in IT and e-commerce. The pain is unlikely to go away soon.

- M.G. Arun

Abhishek Nair (name chan­ged on request), 28, a management studies graduate who worked in the marketing department of the Mumbai-based e-commerce portal Housing.com was abruptly asked to leave in August 2015, after nine months at the job. The company cited ‘restructuring of operations’ as the reason for the lay-off, which saw nearly a hundred people losing their jobs in one shot. Nair is furious at what he terms the ‘callous’ attitude of the firm, which brings buyers and sellers of homes together on a platform. “The company miscalculated its growth potential and hired indiscriminately,” he alleges. He was given a month’s notice and salary, but the incident has left a permanent scar. “I will think a hundred times before I join a start-up again,” he says.