5,000 workers at Nokia Chennai plant opt for voluntary retirement scheme

Nearly 5,000 employees at Nokia’s manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur have opted for a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) announced by the company.

This leaves about 1,500 staff at Nokia India’s plant near Chennai, which is the biggest handset production facility established by the Finnish telecom company.

“While we set no target for the VRS in terms of the number of employees, we have about 5,000 employees opting for the VRS scheme,” said a company spokesperson.

Also, in consultation with the workers’ union Nokia has introduced an initiative under which it is offering banking consultancy services and employment outlook trainings to the staff who have opted for the VRS, the spokesperson said in a statement.

The VRS follows the uncertainty following the tax case between the company and the government which resulted in the Chennai plant being left out of the global acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft. The $7.4-billion deal was concluded recently.

Nokia is fighting a legal battle against Income Tax Department that has slapped a ₹21,000-crore claim on its Indian subsidiary for violating withholding tax norms since 2006 on royalty payments to the parent company in Finland.

The company is also contesting a ₹2,400-crore sales tax claim from the Tamil Nadu Government.

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