Telecom company Aircel has denied a report that it is planning to lay off 700 employees across the country.
“The recent news report regarding rationalization of jobs at Aircel is speculative and misleading. We would like to emphasize that amidst all that is happening in the sector, our focus is to build a profitable company, keeping the best interest of our customers and people," as said in a statement to Outlook.
The Times of India had reported that in the first phase of manpower downsizing under which first lot of people have been asked to agree on company's compensation package that includes the salary of February and basic pay of next 6 months. The employees have been given one week time to respond.
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According to a source who spoke to the newspaper, the entire exercise is being aimed at reducing duplication of human resources with the possible merger with Reliance Communications (RCom).
The merger process is on hold after the Supreme Court threatened to axe the proposed merger and get Aircel’s spectrum auctioned off angered by the refusal of its Malaysian businessman T Ananda Krishnan to heed the summons issued to him.
“Krishnan, who has a significant stake in Aircel-Dishnet, has been accused of acquiring the control of Aircel with the help of former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran who allegedly coerced the original promoter to evacuate the venture. Dayanidhi and his brother Kalanithi were discharged on Thursday by a Delhi court in the case,” reported The Times of India.
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The report also said that the next phase of downsizing has been scheduled for the month of April.
"In the coming 7-8 months, we are planning to go slow on all segments as more stages of job cuts are on the cards," another unnamed source and an insider had informed Aircel.
