The long list of companies laying off employees during the Covid-19 crisis is now joined by digital lending company, Lendingkart. The firm has decided to lay off 30% of its workforce which is equivalent to 200 employees as it struggles to manage its financial stability during these times.
Lendingkart processes collateral free working capital loans between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 40 lakh for MSMEs and startups, an industry which has been struggling the hardest during this period.
The company emailed its employees about the decision and said, “The ongoing period has had a debilitating effect on micro, small, and medium enterprises, where everything has come to a virtual standstill. NBFCs have been significantly impacted, with loan disbursements coming to a halt and moratorium impacting collections.”
Lendingkart stated that the layoffs are also a part of the annual appraisal cycle where they reduce the team by 15%- 20% depending on staff’s performance. This year although the company had to reduce the team size even further due to the crisis. The senior management and the leadership of the firm has also taken salary cuts.
The announcement is made a few days after the company raised Rs 319 crore in its ongoing Series D funding round. The round was led by existing investors, Fullerton Financial Holdings and Bertelsmann India Investments and several others. The company is also estimated at $248 million post this investment.
The trend of laying off employees has been going on for quite some time now with Swiggy and Zomato laying off 1600 employees together while other companies like Treebo, MakeMyTrip, Uber, Ola, Livspace and Sharechat have also sacked a good number of their staff.