Infosys denies laying off 500 people

It said 'few people' and not 500 were asked to leave on grounds of non-performance and disciplinary issues

Infosys on Monday said it has laid off "a few" people on grounds of non-performance and disciplinary issues but denied reports of 500 jobs being cut by the country's second largest software services company.

"We would like to clarify that there are no layoffs at Infosys. There have been a few separations that are in response to performance and disciplinary issues, which take place on an ongoing basis and this is no different from previous years," an Infosys spokesperson said.

She added that the number of 500 people being laid off is "incorrect and the number is far below".

There were reports that Infosys had laid off 500 people in the aftermath of losing its multi-million pound deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

RBS had announced that it will not pursue its plan to separate and list a new UK standalone bank, Williams & Glyn (W&G), for which Infosys was a key technology partner. The move led to ramp down of about 3,000 jobs at the Bengaluru- based company.

At the end of first quarter of FY2017, Infosys had 1.97 lakh employees with an attrition rate of 21 per cent during April-June, 2016.

Infosys said it offers counselling to employees not meeting the expected standards of performance.

"After adequate counselling, those found consistently deviating from expectations are asked to find alternate employment. This applies to employees across levels and is not connected with any business situation that is not in the control of the employee. The numbers are very low and this is no different from what we have done in the past," it said.