Sachin Bansal’s Navi lays off nearly 200 employees

Sachin Bansal’s financial services startup Navi has joined the list of companies cutting their workforce, as the company fires 150-200 employees across tech, product and analytics among others, according to sources aware of the development.

As per sources, impacted employees have been given standard severance packages but they had no prior knowledge about layoffs.

This comes at a time when Navi delayed its public listing plan citing weak market conditions. The firm filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in March last year with SEBI to raise up to Rs 3,350 crore. Sources indicate that the company hasn’t fixed any definitive timeline for the IPO.

A PTI report said that 200 employees have been fired across all departments.

In a statement to Entrackr, a Navi spokesperson said, "Navi conducts performance appraisals twice a year, which results in expected departures from the company. However, Navi continues to have multiple open positions and the company is expected to continue hiring many new employees this year, including a batch of 150+ campus hires who will be joining in August."

It looks like Navi has been in need of money and this is apparent from the fact that the company revealed that it is looking to raise up to Rs 500 crore through the issue of secured and redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs). Navi previously raised Rs 600 crore through public issue of NCDs in May 2022.

Navi is among the rarest companies that resorted to layoffs even after having profit in the books. The company’s revenue from operations jumped 2.5X to Rs 2,040.6 crore during FY23 from Rs 817 crore in FY22, as per its consolidated annual financial statements. The company also turned profitable with Rs 264 crore profits in FY23 against a loss of Rs 14.6 crore in FY22.