Expecting high demand, QSRs, retail companies expand their workforce

Reliance Retail (RR), the country's largest retailer, added the most number of employees at about 60,000 in FY23

As many as 20 listed lifestyle and grocery retailer companies and quick service restaurants added around 64,000 employees to their workforce during the financial year 2022-23 (FY22), about 73 per cent more than in FY22, The Economic Times (ET) reported. The hirings were primarily driven by the expanding store networks of these companies, which have grown despite the slump in demand.

Companies such as Reliance Retail, Shoppers Stop, Trent, Aditya Birla Retail, Titan, Avenue Supermart, and Jubilant FoodWorks added 14 per cent to their workforce in  FY23 taking the total employee count to 530,000, the report said. This number takes into account the permanent and contractual workforce, along with the employees who left work.

In FY22, these companies added 37,000 people, raising their total employee count by 8 per cent to 465,000, ET reported.  Industry experts believe that the hiring at these firms is likely to continue at a rapid pace, as business has shown impressive growth during Raksha Bandhan and Onam. This also raises expectations for the upcoming festive season.

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Reliance Retail hired 60,000 employees

Chief Executive Officer of the Retailers Association of India, Kumar Rajagopalan told ET, "Most of them have seen growth in the sector and will continue to hire as it takes time to train employees." Reliance Retail (RR), the country's largest retailer, added the most employees, about 60,000, during the last financial year. While RR added 179,000 people, 119,000 people quit.

Companies that cut their workforce

Page Industries, Rupa Company, and Spencer Retail stood out as they cut their net workforce in FY23. This comes at a time when consumers have reduced non-essential spending including that on apparel, lifestyle products, and dining out. This has happened primarily due to higher inflation during last year's Diwali, an increase in interest rates, job losses, and an overall slowdown in the economy, the ET report said.

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Top-listed retail companies and quick-service restaurant chains opened 4,700 stores in the last financial year, their fastest expansion in at least five years. After the first wave of Covid-19, several retail companies laid off employees in thousands.