Bata India Ltd plans VRS in West Bengal

Kolkata, Jun 16 : Multinational shoe major Bata India Ltd is planning to launch a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its staff.

The scheme is targeted at 400 workers of the company's Batanagar plant in West Bengal.

''The VRS is aimed at bringing down costs and improving profitability,'' company officials said.

Bata is expected to spend average Rs 1.5 lakh on each employee, excluding the incentive component for 'early bird' applicants under the proposed VRS, the officials said.

Batanagar's staff strength has come down to 2,600 after a series of retirement schemes.

In 2005, Bata had introduced four rounds of VRS that trimmed 1,000 of its total staff strength.

UNI