Mahindra & Mahindra brushes off media reports as speculation

In a rebuttal to various media reports, Mahindra & Mahindra has clarified that the company, in the past 12 months, has let go of 48 associates due to redundancies.

Narayan Shankar, Company Secretary, Mahindra & Mahindra, in a letter to SEBI, dated 10 March 2021, pointed out that news articles saying the company had sacked 300 executives are baseless and purely speculative. He said the articles seem to reflect a malicious attempt by disgruntled elements who may have made misleading or fake statements to the media.

“We are very concerned about this misreporting, as we truly value our employees and have taken numerous steps to ensure their safety, health and financial well-being.”

Highlighting the false claims made by media articles, Shankar wrote 98 associates have been given six months to find a role. “The combined total across all levels is 1.3% of white-collar associates within the Auto & Farm sectors.” The letter said there are no plans for layoffs at MRV. “In fact, we continue to recruit talent, which will further accelerate as we ramp up our EV strategy.”

In regards to VS Parthasarathy, the letter highlighted that he decided to leave the Group on his own accord to pursue personal interests. “As a reaction to these articles, Parthasarathy says this could not be further from the truth. I resigned of my own accord and look forward to the next phase of my career.”

The letter stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, M&M has taken a series of actions consistent with the company’s core values and strong focus on associates. “There were minimal separations and no widespread layoffs. M&M increased salaries across the board and paid out full performance pay. To date, not a single blue collar worker has been laid off. There were no salary cuts at any level, in fact we increased salaries across the board and paid out pull performance pay.”

The company took various steps for safety and health of its associates, including establishing quarantine centres, picking up the cost for all medical treatments, providing monetary allowances for connectivity from homes and various measures to enhance their well-being.

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M&M has reported a strong financial results in Q3, coming out of COVID-19 pandemic with a strong growth momentum. Consolidated Q3 PAT before exceptional items was up 305% vs. prior year (Consolidated Q3 PAT after exceptional items was up 252% vs. prior year). Moreover, M&M stock price is up 200% since April 1, compared to 73% for Sensex.