A manufacturing company has laid off over 2,000 permanent employees in India, citing a severe financial crisis triggered by a "flood" of low-cost Chinese imports, confirmed the company executive. The firm had sustained significant losses for three consecutive years, leaving it with no choice but to implement the massive workforce reduction.
The firm claimed that subsidised Chinese products have flooded the Indian market at prices that local manufacturers, burdened by higher operational and raw material costs, simply cannot match. The news gained traction after a detailed post on the IndianWorkplace forum on Reddit went viral.
The post stated: "We have 3 ink manufacturing plants, and because of extremely cheap Chinese supply, we've been unable to stay profitable. For the last 3 years, we've been running at a net loss."
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The scale of the layoffs is significant. The firm has reportedly let go of at least 1,934 permanent staff and 896 long-term contractual workers. In a poignant revelation shared on social media, the son of a business owner detailed the painful collapse of a decades-old Indian manufacturing legacy.
The individual, who initially identified himself as the company's Chief of Operations (COO), has now clarified in an edited social media post that he is no longer associated with the business and is moving back to Germany.
Without naming the company, the individual disclosed that his father has steered the business for over 34 years, but a recent management decision has led to the closure of two major plants, resulting in a massive workforce reduction.
Post Mentioned Severance Package
The user wrote, "This is an incredibly difficult situation because we simply can't sustain the employee costs anymore. I strongly pushed for a fair severance package." He had recommended a package consisting of three months' pay plus one additional month for every year served, with a total cap of five months. The approved severance was slashed to just two weeks' pay plus one week for every year of service, with a maximum cap of only four weeks.
"I was honestly very disappointed. What hurt even more was that my father and brother approved this without even discussing it with me," he added. "Is this kind of severance package common in Indian manufacturing industries? When we laid off our overseas support teams 2 years ago, we compensated them much more generously."
Further, he informed, "We also have a small IT team of 72 people, which is heavily downsizing to just 8 members," he added.
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