No job cuts in India in the near future: Sony

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony today said it does not have any manpower realignment plan for India in the "near future" amid reports of the firm cutting 10,000 jobs globally.

The company's Indian arm said it is rather ramping up its head count in the country to meet growing demand.

"As far as India is concerned, Sony is witnessing healthy growth rate and there is no realignment of manpower in the near future," a Sony India spokesperson told PTI.

The company is "continuously increasing our manpower to match the growing business requirement of Sony in India", she added without sharing any details.

On reports of the Japanese parent cutting 10,000 jobs, the spokesperson said: "Sony has not announced specific details such as the job cuts, reported in some media today, and therefore we decline to comment."

According to its website, Sony Corporation has a total employee strength of 1,68,200 as of March 31, 2011.

Earlier during the day, Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported that Sony Corporation will cut 10,000 jobs, probably by the end of this year to reduce loss.

The report by Nikkei quoting unnamed sources had said that Sony's move to consolidate chemicals and small and mid- sized LCD operations will account for half of the job cuts.

For the third quarter ended December 31, 2011, Sony Corp's net loss stood at 159 billion yen compared to a net income of 72.3 billion yen in the year-ago period.

The company's sales and operating revenue also declined by 17.37% to 1.82 trillion yen from 2.21 trillion yen in the third quarter ended December 31, 2010.

The decrease in consolidated sales was attributed to the impact of the devastating flood in Thailand, unfavourable market conditions in developed nations and adverse foreign exchange rates.

In February this year, the company had forecast a consolidated net loss of 220 billion yen for the financial year ending March 31, 2012.