Reliance cuts 11 per cent of workforce on retail cool-off
Reliance Industries has reduced nearly 11%, or 42,000 people, of its workforce in FY24 compared to a year ago, indicating cost-efficiency drives and reduced hiring especially in retail which also saw store closures and slower expansion rate.
RIL's employee strength stood at 347,000 in FY24 compared to 389,000 in FY23. The number of new recruits was slashed by more than a third to 170,000, according to its latest annual report.
«The new lines of businesses (at Reliance) have matured now and have significant support from digital initiatives. Now they are a stage to better manage the operations with optimum strength. It doesn't mean that the numbers (of headcount) won't increase when new business opportunities emerge and strategy changes. They understand very well how to drive cost management and efficiency,» said an analyst with a leading broking firm who tracks Reliance Industries, but did not wish to be named.
A bulk of the reduction was in its retail business which accounted for about 60% of RIL's employee strength at 207,000 last fiscal, compared to 245,000 in FY23. Jio, too, saw employee count reduce to 90,000 in FY24 from 95,000 a year ago.
«Overall voluntary separations in FY24 are lower than FY23,» RIL said, adding that its employee benefits expense rose 3% to Rs 25,699 crore. In FY23, it had gone up by 33% compared to a year ago.
During the year 2022-23, Reliance Retail expanded its physical store network with over 3,300 new store openings, taking the total store count at the end of the year to 18,040
