Swiggy follows Zomato, lays off 1,100 as coronavirus dashes business

Foodtech giant Swiggy will lay off 1,100 employees citing business losses because of the lockdown to contain the coronavirus, two days after rival Zomato revealed plans to cut 13 per cent of its workforce.
The company backed by China’s Tencent and Prosus NV has about 8,000 employees and it is reducing 13.75 per cent of its workforce.
“We, unfortunately, have to part ways with 1100 of our employees spanning across grades and functions in the cities and head office over the next few days. This is easily the hardest and longest deliberated decision the management team and I have been faced with over recent times,” said Swiggy co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety in a blog post. “We have been fortunate to have some of the brightest missionary talent in the country join us over the last few years, and I would like to state unequivocally that this is not at all a reflection of anyone’s performance.”
Majety said the firm had started chalking out an accelerated path to profitability for the food delivery business last December. “We had also started making great progress on our unit economics over the following months before Covid hit us.”
He said Covid-19 hit the company with a huge blow of uncertainty, forcing it to look even harder at its cost base and preparedness for the road ahead. While Covid might have long-term tailwinds for the delivery business and digital commerce when things settle eventually, he said nobody knows how long the uncertainty will last. “We, therefore, need to be prepared to see through this winter, to emerge stronger on the other side.”
Early this month, Rahul Jaimini, the co-founder and CTO of Bengaluru-based Swiggy, said he is moving away from his active role to pursue another entrepreneurial venture.

Swiggy recently said its investors continue to put their trust in the company’s leadership and their ability to execute towards the larger goal and the recent round of funding of $156 million will further strengthen and expand services that offer unparalleled convenience to consumers.