No layoffs for the next one year: Bajaj Auto

New Delhi, Nov 16: With the automotive market slowing down in the country, creating a threat of job cuts, the country's second-largest motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto on Sunday, Nov 15 said it will not resort to lay off in the next 12 months as the cost of employment is lower in this sector. ''As we have an employment cost of about 3-3.5 per cent which is considerably lower than other sectors, we won't see any retrenchment in the next one year,'' Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj told mediapersons on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit here.

He said in the IT sector, the employment cost stands at about 16-18 per cent. Expressing satisfaction over the steps taken recently by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease liquidity, Mr Bajaj said, ''much more needs to be done.'' The company has registered a growth of 30 per cent sales during April-September, he said.

Asked how much his company would be affected due to the global slowdown, he said, ''Exports will be affected in the coming months and I hope the effect will not be severe.'' The auto major has seen a 31 per cent fall in two and three wheeler sales for October 2008. The company reported a fall in motorcycles sales by three per cent to 1,63,850 units in October 2008 against October 2007 sales of 2,48,307 units.

UNI