Govt may launch probe against Amazon India amid layoffs, resignations

The union ministry of labour may launch a probe against Amazon India over mass resignations amid layoffs globally. A week earlier, the government had summoned the ecommerce giant, which has as many as one lakh employees in India, for discussion regarding layoffs and subsequent layoffs. 

Now the government is reportedly planning to set up an inquiry regarding the violation of labour laws and terms of services such as severance and notice period, as the company witnessed a spate of resignations in the past week. Earlier this month, after announcing the layoffs globally, Amazon India sent a voluntary separation programme to its L1 to L7 employees, setting up the deadline for participating in the programme as November 30. 

Following this, the Pune-based employee union Nascent Information Technology Employee Senate (NITES) wrote a letter to the union labour minister Bhupendra Yadav, stating that it has received complaints from Amazon employees on being forced to quit the company voluntarily. 

Requesting interference from the government, the employee union called the voluntary separation programme by the company "unethical and illegal". The union said that VSP will impact thousands of employees in India.

On November 25, in its reply to the government, Amazon India said that no employee has been forced to resign and that they quit after accepting the voluntary separation programme. 

The development comes amid the ecommerce giant pulling the plug on certain segments of its business in India. Last week, the company announced closing of operations of its edtech unit Amazon Academy, which will be done in a phased manner from August 2023. 

It also decided to shut its food delivery business, Amazon Food, from December 29 this year, as part of the company’s annual operating planning review process. Besides, Amazon is also reportedly planning to shut its Amazon distribution services in India that distributes fast-moving consumer goods from companies to retailers. The company’s distribution services are mainly across Bengaluru, Hubli and Mysore. 

Queries sent by Fortune India to Amazon India regarding the number of employees that will be impacted due to the shutdown of its businesses did not elicit any response. The copy will be updated after the responses are received. 

This month, the ecommerce giant announced that it will be handing over pink slips to as many as 10,000 employees of its corporate workforce. The company said the layoffs will continue next year as well. This will be the largest layoff in the company’s corporate history. In India, which is amongst the most lucrative markets of the e-commerce giant with more than 100 million users, the layoffs are likely to affect hundreds of employees.