The Not So Happy News From Vodafone Idea Merger: 30 Per Cent Employees Fired

A report in Business Standard has suggested that Vodafone and Idea Cellular may have let go close to 8000 employees or one-third of their workforce in the seventeen months leading to the merger of the two companies.

While the two companies combined were reported to have around 25000 employees on their rolls in March 2017 when the merger was announced, the merged entity Vodafone Idea is said to have 17000 employees on their roster.

It has also been reported that the number of temporary staffers, contractual employees and those off the rolls have also come down though there is no clarity on the numbers retained by each company.

Both Idea Cellular and Vodafone have refuted reports that there have been job losses in the thousands with the report also stating that employees of Idea Cellular have been absorbed in other Aditya Birla companies.

It is estimated that after taking into account voluntary resignations, the reduction in personnel levels would be in the region of 15 to 18 per cent with future hirings also reducing to a trickle.