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Planetasia.com lays off 60 people

Netscribes/T M Arun Kumar

Microland Group's software services and Internet professional services company Planetasia.com is believed to have cut its workforce by an estimated 10 per cent.

According to sources, the company has given the pink slip to about 60 of its software engineers and more slips may be on their way in the next few days.

"More than 60 people, all of whom experienced, have been laid off," said a Microland Group source adding that another round of layoffs may be expected soon.

"In the next round, it would be the turn of the freshers," the source added.

Despite repeated attempts, company officials were not available for comment. E-mails and calls to Microland Group spokesperson went unanswered.

This move by Planetasia comes after it put in place a temporary recruitment freeze a couple of months ago. This was necessitated due to the company's billing rates remaining flat as a result of the US economic slowdown.

Planetasia had been rumored to be in a bad shape for quite some time now. In fact, Microland gave a fresh lease of life to the company by merging its software services division with Planetasia last year.

However, in spite of that, its manpower utilisation rate was pretty low, which has led to this round of lay-offs.

Planetasia.com had late last year announced plans for an IPO to raise Rs 500-750 million. However, it subsequently deferred the IPO plans and is yet to firm up either the issue size or the timing of the float.

The company is a systems integration partner for open market, an e-business products provider, and TriVium Systems, an eCRM company.

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