India-based online ticketing platform BookMyShow has laid off about 200 employees as the nationwide lockdown to curb the Covid-19 outbreak has battered demand for entertainment services in the country.
The move comes a year after the company trimmed 18% of its total workforce and implemented pay cuts of between 10% to 50% for the rest of its employees.
“Covid-19 has taught me many lessons and I learned another one today,” said Ashish Hemrajani, co-founder of BookMyShow in a statement on Twitter. “As we let go of 200 of the most incredibility talented and performance-driven individuals, each and everyone has messaged, thanking me for the opportunity, the love for [BookMyShow] and asking me if they could help ‘me’ in any way possible.”
Some industries, such as entertainment, hotels, and travel, have already bitten the bullet with a series of job cuts at the likes of Oyo, Hamlet, and MakeMyTrip, among others.
In 2019, BookMyShow was on track to expand its business in Southeast Asia after it received an undisclosed amount of investment from Singapore’s Jungle Ventures. The startup entered Indonesia in mid-2016, and then extended its service to other countries in the region such as Singapore and Malaysia in 2019.
