The telecom company already suffering from financial issues, is now witnessing a mass exit of its employees.
What is happening: Around a fifth of its sales team is believed to have quit over the past few weeks, industry sources said.
The future of Vodafone India appears bleak at best, starting with its failure to pay its debts to tower companies and other billers, record subscriber losses, the government's proposal to buy a stake in the indebted firm, and now reports of employees quitting.
Why it matters: Data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) show that Vodafone Idea continued its 12-month run of continuous customer decline up until October 2022.
If the numbers continue racking up, the continued existence of the telecom provider seems at risk.
Backdrop: The telecom operator has lost about 38.1 million mobile subscribers in the 19 months till October, and had 245.62 million total mobile subscribers as of October-end.
It added that the crisis-hit telco is now scouting for replacements and has listed as many as 986 vacancies on LinkedIn.
The big picture: The number of permanent employees at Vodafone Idea has decreased by more than 35% during the last four fiscal years.
On the company's payroll as of March 31, 2022, there were 8,760 permanent employees, down from 13,520 in FY19.
A higher employee count of the company in FY19 was due to the merged operations of Vodafone India with Idea Cellular during the year.
By the numbers: In FY20 and FY21, the company’s permanent employee count was at 11,486 and 9,174, respectively.
Vodafone Idea’s net loss widened to Rs 7,595.5 crore during the July-September quarter.
As of 2023, the company needs to raise around Rs 25,000 crore to tide over its immediate financial crunch.
Read in short: Vodafone India already suffering with bad times given its debts and drop in subscribers, hits a new low with over one fifth of its workforce quitting the telecom provider.
