#5 Sectors Badly Hit By Layoffs In India Artificial Intelligence and automation have replaced routine jobs performed by humans

Every job on earth involves some risk and ironically employment security is the first and foremost thing we seek while taking up a job.

2017 started with a jolt, news of mass layoffs in each and every sector triggering panic among youth and old alike.

IT sector has been the worst affected with big companies abruptly slicing the workforce, apparently because of slow growth and introduction of new advanced technologies.

Artificial Intelligence and automation have replaced routine jobs performed by humans. IT industries conduct a performance-based review, on the basis of which innumerable employees are handed off pink slips every year.

Besides, banking and e-commerce sectors also have decided to reduce their staff as a cost-cutting measure.

Below are the five sectors that saw layoffs in last one year:

Banking

India's biggest private lender HDFC Bank reduced its staff by 6,096 (7 per cent) employees in the fourth quarter, ending in March 2017. The staff cut is highest in a quarter since the bank is now looking into ways to improve productivity and reduce costs.

It was also reported that the State Bank of India might reduce its workforce by around 10 per cent over the next two years. Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director, State Bank of India told the media that manpower would reduce with time. Around 10 per cent reduction is expected in two years.

E-commerce

E-commerce firm Snapdeal confirmed in February that it would layoff over 600 people across its e-commerce, logistics and payment units. Co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bahl took 100 per cent salary cut without specifying how long they would continue to do so. The Gurgaon-based firm, which was struggling to raise investment and compete with its rivals, had decided to cut its workforce to reduce losses. The company reported a loss of Rs 3,316 crore in FY-2016, on revenue of Rs 1,457 crore.

Electronics

Chinese smartphone maker LeEco laid off 85 per cent of its employees this year as a part of its business strategy. The company, which was launched in India last year, has decided to cut back its operations in the country. The decision was purely to ensure sustainability and productivity of the company.

IT Sector

IT biggies like Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant are sacking employees en mass as part of their performance appraisal process. It was reported in March that Cognizant was planning to hand over 6,000 pink slips to its employees.

Manufacturing

India's largest engineering firm, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), last year announced that it had sacked 14,000 employees in six months between April and September, to cut the staff strength to required size. The company has also introduced digitization and taking productivity enhancement initiatives. This was reported as India's biggest ever layoff done at one go in the recent times.