HDFC Bank on Sunday denied large scale lay offs at HDB Financial Services, even as a section of employees of the NBFC took to social media to report that they had been asked to resign in the wake of the economic slowdown.

Sources said that about 100 were asked to leave as part of the annual appraisal and ethical reasons, which was communicated recently but has nothing to do with the current economic slowdown in the wake of the lockdown and coronavirus pandemic.

But social media including Twitter saw a barrage of complaints from employees of HDB Financial Services who had been asked to leave. Some of these complaints said that as many as 5,000 people had been asked to leave.

However, HDFC Bank in a clarification said that this involves “a minuscule number of employees out of the total one lakh plus and has nothing to do with the online lockdown or the resulting economic situation”.

Calling itself a “responsible employer”, it said that this was an attempt by a handful of “disgruntled employees to take advantage of the current situation”.

The private sector bank said that the employee count at HDB increased by 15,794 to 1,09,167 by March 31 this from 93,373 a year ago.

HDB Financial Services is a non-deposit taking NBFC offering a wide range of loans and asset finance products to individuals, emerging businesses and micro enterprises.

As on March 31, 2020, HDFC Bank held 95.3 per cent stake in the company.

A report by Emkay Global Financial Services after the fourth quarter result of HDFC Bank had noted that HDB Financial Services reported muted growth of six per cent year on year.

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