Foodpanda reduces overall workforce, lays off 300 employees

New Delhi: Online food ordering and delivery firm Foodpanda India has laid off 15 percent its employees, totaling close to 300, as it focuses on automation to streamline its operations.

"The company has reduced overall workforce by 15 percent, that is around 300 employees," a company spokesperson said. "... Foodpanda has managed to reduce manual intervention and achieved about 98 percent automation rate in order processing. Foodpanda has, therefore, reduced the overall work force by about 15 percent," the company said in an e-mailed response.

The company is eyeing profitability in India as it continues to focus on technological innovations combined with adjustments to its business model. Foodpanda India CEO Saurabh Kochhar said: "While we continued to invest in processes and technology, we also had to take some difficult decisions. But we believe them to be necessary steps on our path to become sustainable and profitable within the targeted timeline."

He added: "We also reduced our workforce across a few departments." Foodpanda, at present, has menus from over 12,000 restaurants across over 200 cities in India available on its app and the website.