MakeMyTrip Lays Off 350 Employees As Travel Industry Still At Halt

India’s leading online travel firm, MakeMyTrip announced that it will be laying off 350 employees in the wake of the travel ban that was put up due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company added that it was unclear as to when travelling will become a way of life, as it was before the pandemic.

The decision was announced by MakeMyTrip CEO Deep Kalra and Group CEO Rajesh Magow in a letter written to its employees, saying that they have analysed the impact closely over the last two months and spent time thinking about business recovery.

"Over the past two months, we have analysed the impact closely and have spent considerable time thinking about the path to business recovery. As a result, it’s become clear that there are certain lines of business that are deeply affected and will take much longer than the others to recover. As we revisited some of our strategic imperatives to be able to sustain our business in the long term, it is evident that the pandemic has changed the context and viability of some of our business lines in its current form. Keeping this in mind we have had to take this sad but inevitable decision of rightsizing our workforce," the letter read.

"We are truly appreciative of all the work they have put in over the years to make this organisation what it is today. The staff rationalisation we have had to undertake is mapped to our future business strategy and is in no way a reflection of the work done by people in these teams. We wish them only the very best for what follows from here, and we thank them deeply for their rich contribution to Go-MMT," it added.

Created to empower the Indian traveller with instant booking and comprehensive choices, the company began its journey in the US-India travel market. It aimed to offer a range of best-value products and services along with cutting-edge technology and dedicated round-the-clock customer support. It also offered several traveller-oriented pocket-friendly packages to its customers by a few mouse clicks. In a very short period of time, it became the preferred choice of millions of travellers.

However, to support the laid-off employees, the company is offering Mediclaim coverage for individuals and their families till the end of the year, leave encashment, gratuity, retaining the right to exercise part of RSUs as applicable, retention of company laptops and outplacement support apart from salary payments as per their notice periods.

The government had allowed domestic air travel in lockdown 4.0 and hence, offered a bit of relief for OTAs.

The easing of restrictions had been met with cheer by online travel agents. Yatra co-founder and CEO Dhruv Shringi had said that its bookings on May 23 were trending at almost 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. IRCTC has now allowed OTAs to enable train bookings, which was previously restricted to IRCTC alone.

In Unlock 1.0, the government has said that it will consider the decision of allowing international travel in the next few months, which may bring some normalcy for the travel industry and online travel aggregators like MMT.