Online retailers are handing out pink slips in large numbers as they shift attention to controlling costs from acquiring customers, several industry executives told Economic Times. Among the companies sacking staff are Flipkart and Jabong, which are among the biggest in the business, illustrating the growing pain in India's e-commerce sector, the report said.

Nearly 250 employees, or about one-tenth of Flipkart's workforce, are being shown the door, at least three people with direct knowledge of the development told ET. At Jabong, too, a similar number of employees have been sacked, but the company employs fewer than 1,000 staff.

“People are being let off every month,” a Flipkart employee who was sacked in April told ET. Most of the layoffs are from the supply chain, logistics and call centre teams. Flipkart did not reply to emails seeking its comments. A spokesman said asking “non-performers”, or the 10 per cent of employees with the lowest ratings, to resign is a general practice during the annual appraisal process. Jabong's co-founder Praveen Sinha, however, admitted to sacking only 20 employees, so far. Inkfruit, an apparel portal acquired by web retailer Zovi.com last year, has also asked several employees to leave.

Read the full report here