Ride-hailing giant Uber has reportedly shut down its office situated in Mumbai. The news comes almost a month after the company laid off 600 employees as a cost-cutting measure.
Uber is not stopping its operations in the city, though. According to an Uber spokesperson quoted by Mint, the company will continue to “provide a high level of service to all its riders in Mumbai”.
According to the report, Uber Mumbai’s employees will continue to work from home until the end of the year. For now, it remains uncertain if the company would allocate these employees to other branches.
The unexpected nature of the move suggests that this is part of Uber’s global downsizing efforts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Uber laid off a total of 6,700 employees worldwide in May. Uber’s CEO is apparently planning to make cost-cutting measures accounting to $1 billion in order to make up for business disruptions in wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“The impact of Covid-19 and the unpredictable nature of the recovery has left Uber India with no choice but to reduce the size of its workforce. Around 600 full time positions across driver and rider support, as well as other functions, are being impacted,” said Uber’s President for India and South Asia businesses in May.
Uber had to halt its operations in March this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company, however, has now resumed most of its services across the country. Since the coronavirus pandemic has shown no signs of slowing down yet, it may take quite some time for Uber to operate as it used to before.
