Walmart Laysoff 56 Executives in India for Corporate Restructuring

Walmart Inc, the US-based world’s largest retailer, has fired more than 50 of its executives in India as a part of its restructuring process here. The fired executives include eight executives from the senior management of the e-commerce giant’s India unit, Walmart India.

The company, however, denied that another round of layoffs would be carried out in April.

In a statement, the Bentonville, Arkansas-headquartered company said that the exercise was carried out with a view to look out for ways to operate more efficiently, which, as per the statement, ‘required it to review its corporate structure to ensure that it is organized in the right way.’

“As a part of this review, we have let go 56 of our associates across levels at the corporate office. All of them have been offered enhanced severance benefits and outplacement services to support their transition,” Krish Iyer, president and CEO of Walmart India said.

“A report speculating second round of layoffs in April is baseless and incorrect,” he added.

Walmart currently operates 28 wholesale stores in India, where it sells goods to small shopkeepers and not to retail customers. It also has Fulfillment Centres in Mumbai, Lucknow and Hyderabad. It entered India in 2007 in a partnership with Bharti and went alone six years later.

In 2018, it acquired a majority stake in Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company and its chief rival in the country, paying $16 billion for the same.