Food delivery company Swiggy issued a statement on Monday saying it will be laying off more than 1,000 employees in the next few days as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to the business being impacted on a drastic scale. As per the company's blog, Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy’s co-founder and CEO, in an email to the employees had written saying, "Today is one of the saddest days for Swiggy as we have to go through an unfortunate downsizing exercise. We, unfortunately, have to part ways with 1,100 of our employees spanning across grades and functions in the cities and head office over the next few days,". 

Majety's statement further read, "While Covid might have long-term tailwinds for the delivery business and digital commerce when things settle eventually, nobody knows how long the uncertainty will last. We, therefore, need to be prepared to see through this winter, to emerge stronger on the other side,". Swiggy's announcement of the layoffs has come at a time when the nation has entered the fourth phase of its lockdown, which first began on March 25, in order to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

Speaking about the future of Swiggy, Majety said the company will be scaling down or shutting down conjoining businesses that will not yield much or be relevant for the next 18 months since they could be highly volatile. He said, "The biggest impact here is on the cloud kitchens business, with many unknowns about volumes through the year. Since the onset of Covid, we have already begun the process of shutting down our kitchen facilities temporarily or permanently, depending on their outlook and profitability profile,".

With regard to profitability, Majety has said Swiggy will resort to cutting down expenses and set to achieve more gains with a smaller order volume than initially planned. Cost reductions will be implemented next in order to "withstand any further risks" due to the uncertainties posed by the coronavirus pandemic, he said. The latest move by Swiggy to reduce around 14% of its workforce has come days after popular restaurant aggregator Zomato laid off 13% of its workforce.