Private lender Yes Bank has reportedly laid off hundreds of employees in a restructuring exercise. The layoffs reportedly happened across several vertices, from wholesale to retain, as well as the branch banking segment.
According to a report in The Economic Times, Yes Bank has laid off at least 500 employees in the restructuring exercise. More such layoffs could take place in the coming days, as per the report that quoted multiple people.
The laid-off employees have been given a severance pay of three months’ salary. A spokesperson said that they are looking to become operationally efficient by optimising the workforce. The layoffs were done on the advice of a multinational consultant, a person aware of the development said.
Meanwhile, Yes Bank stock closed flat at Rs 24.02 on Tuesday against the previous close of Rs 23.95 on BSE. Market cap of the bank stood at Rs 75,268 crore.
“In our endeavour to be an agile, future-ready organisation which is leaner, faster, customer centric, and operationally efficient, we periodically undertake a thorough review of the way we operate and optimise our workforce,” the spokesperson said.
Yes Bank is reportedly looking to cut costs by leaning towards digital banking and cutting down manual intervention. This comes as staff expenses for the lender grew over 12 per cent between the fiscal 2023 and 2024. The expenses grew from Rs 3,363 crore at the end of FY23 to Rs 3,774 crore at the end of FY24.
The lender had undergone a similar exercise in 2020 after current managing director Prashant Kumar took over, following the Reserve Bank of India’s intervention that saved the bank from going under.