23 Manufacturing Companies Axe Jobs By One-Sixth In Two Years

Twenty three companies in the manufacturing sector have cut their workforce by a whopping 40,000 in the last two years, amounting to almost 16 per cent of their total workforce earlier.

These 23 companies account for 17 per cent of the total sales of the private manufacturing sector in 2000-2001.

This analysis is based on employee strength figures provided by these 23 companies in their respective annual accounts. Other companies have not reported employee strength in their published accounts.

Leading the pack are two Tata group companies, Tata Engineering and Tisco. Telco reduced its employee strength by 9,375 (26.3 per cent) and Tisco by 10,414, thereby, pruning its workforce by 17.58 per cent. Together, these two companies account for almost 49 per cent of the total job cuts.

 

Bajaj Auto reduced its staff strength by 25.64 per cent, Voltas by a hefty 41.61 per cent, Philips India by 35.44 per cent, ABB by 28 per cent and Zuari Industries by 27.7 per cent.

While the manufacturing sector was exploiting efficiencies through reducing the workforce, the technology sector was however actively recruiting people.

Six software companies, for which data on employment is available, increased their staff strength by 23,604 in the last two years.

Wipro tops the list by having increased its workforce by 9,000 to 14,000 in the stipulated period. Infosys Technologies ranks second with 6,322 fresh recruitment in the two years.

The company