Amid layoffs in e-commerce, Twitter reacts to splurge on street plays

As major layoffs continue in the Indian online shopping sector, many users on Twitter are raising questions on how e-commerce giants are spending crores of money on street plays. The companies are doing so after an alleged government directive issued to e-commerce companies to hold street plays.

This cause a lot of furore on social media with many users tagging the official of Twitter accounts of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), India’s Apex Trade Body representing & empowering 8 CRORE Traders and over 40,000 Trade Associations and running it under the hashtag #yehkyanatakhai

A Twitter user wrote: “Heard that #ecommerce players like @Flipkart @amazonIN are spending crores on street plays while there are #layoffs happening. Surprising! @jagograhakjago @CAITIndia @DPIITGoI #yehkyanatakhai”

Another user wrote: “As layoffs mounts across the globe and in India #ecommerce players like @Flipkart @amazonIN are spending crores to organise street plays. Let that sink in @CAITIndia @jagograhakjago @DPIITGoI #yehkyanatakhai“

Recently, multinational e-commerce giant Amazon announced that it would shut down its wholesale distribution operation in India. The decision to exit meal deliveries as well as a service providing bulk doorstep deliveries of packaged consumer goods to small businesses would mean hundreds of Indian employees will lose their jobs. 

This came a week after the company decided to fire 10,000 employees from its global staff, many of them from its one lakh employees in India.

Soon after, the government called the world’s largest online retailer to discuss these layoffs. According to reports, an investigation into alleged violations of labour regulations and service agreements, including severance and notice requirements, is planned. Amazon India launched a voluntary separation programme to its L1 to L7 employees earlier this month after announcing the global layoffs. 

Following these developments, the Nascent Information Technology Employee Senate (NITES) issued a letter to India’s labour minister, Bhupendra Yadav, alleging that it has received complaints from Amazon employees about being pushed to voluntarily leave the company. According to the union, VSP will affect thousands of employees.

Amazon India responded to the government on November 25 by stating that no employees were compelled to resign and that they did so after adopting the voluntary separation programme.