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Justifying Layoffs, Flipkart's Sachin Bansal Claims He Was Demoted To Chairman Because Of Performance

Flipkart recently asked up to 1,000 "underperforming" employees to resign or take severance
Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder of Flipkart
AFP/Getty Images
Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder of Flipkart

In what seems like an unusually candid admission, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal has defended the company's recent layoffs saying even the top management including him has had to pay a price for missed targets, the Economic Times reported.

According to the report, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal told employees last week at a "townhall meeting" that he was replaced as chief executive by co-founder Binny Bansal and made executive chairman earlier this year because of "performance" issues.

"Look at the top level around you. Everyone has changed. In fact, even I am gone," Bansal is reported to have said at the meeting that was attended by 200 employees. "Some of our targets have been missed and everyone, including the top management, has paid the price."

Bansal's admission is also being seen as an effort to placate employees upset by the recent layoffs at the company. Last month, the e-commerce retailer reportedly asked up to 1,000 employees to either resign or leave in exchange for severance pay, just days after its subsidiary Myntra agreed to buy online fashion portal Jabong for $70 million.

Many startups have recently pulled or revoked campus job offers faced with a tighter fundraising environment as well as pressures to become more profitable

In June, online grocery delivery provider, Grofers, said it would retrench about 10 per cent of its workforce and withdrew 67 job offers to campus graduates. Flipkart also delayed the joining dates for at least 17 graduates from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad in May. That led to some backlash from the campus hiring offices at IITs to demand disclose their sources of funding and balance sheets before they hired from campuses.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.