Ericsson India Lays Off 22

Ericsson AB has laid off 22 executives from its India unit. The company, however, denies facing any growth-related challenges in the country and is not looking at massive downsizing to control costs.

Denying media reports, a senior company executive says, "Ericsson is growing in India and it is nothing but a routine performance-related exercise."

The Swedish vendor is also reportedly transferring 100 employees to its sister units and R&D centers.

"The transfer of employees is attributed to more exposure and skill-set improvement to meet the changing business demands," the senior executive adds. He did not wish to be named.

While the company may be reporting decline in its global revenues, its revenues in India have grown by 13.2 percent year-on-year to INR 71.3 billion (US $1.44 billion). Sales of 3G network equipment boosted its growth in the first half of last year. By end of 2011, Ericsson's employee strength had gone up to 11,535 from 6,710 in 2010. (See Ericsson Grows in India in 2011 and 2G Verdict: Vendors Adopt Wait-and-Watch Policy.)

-Jatinder Singh, Principal Correspondent, Light Reading India