Indian cos lay off a net 1.31 lakh staff in 3 months

Indian manufacturing and service sector firms laid off a net 1.31 lakh employees during April-June period, mainly in textiles, gem and jewellery sectors as the exports continued to shrink, a labour ministry report said.

During the April-June, as many as 1.54 lakh employees lost jobs in textile sector followed by about 34,000 persons losing jobs in IT and BPO sectors.

However, there was slight increase in employment in leather, automobiles and handloom, powerloom sectors during the quarter, it said.

"The maximum decline in employment is seen in textiles sector where it has declined by 1.54 lakh during April-June over March, 2009," the report said. The Labour Ministry, which collected data from 3,003 units spread over 21 towns in 11 states, found that employment in surveyed firms declined by 0.29 per cent during April-June. The ministry's employment survey, which revealed about 5 lakh job losses in India after September 2008 global crisis, had earlier found that about 2.5 lakh persons got jobs in January-March period this year.

It said 0.38 lakh jobs were lost in April 2009 and 1.57 lakh in May 2009, while 0.64 lakh were hired in June 2009.

In textiles and IT/BPO sectors, the average monthly decline in employment during April-June over Jan-March 2009 was at 0.63 percent and 0.34 percent respectively.

The report said in the non-exporting units, including in metals and automobile sectors, the employment has, however, slightly increased during the quarter.