"Every drop will count," ⁠says billionaire Gautam Singhania as he hints at job cuts at Raymond in a video message to employees

• There will be job cuts at the Raymond Group, Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Singhania tells his employees via a video message.
• I am pretty sure that this lockdown will get extended and liquidity is becoming a major problem, he added.
• Raymond, known for its suits, is a diversified group with interests ranging from textiles and apparels to condoms and deodrants to manufacturing ring gears used in automobiles aside from bearings for water pumps.
• The listed stock Raymond Limited is down nearly 60% since the start of 2020 largely due to impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

There will be job cuts at the Raymond Group, revealed the billionaire Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Singhania told his employees via a video message. "I am pretty sure that this lockdown will get extended further (beyond May 3)," he said before declaring that the executives will have to take "tough decisions" and make "personal sacrifices.

Raymond, known for its suits, is a diversified group with interests ranging from textiles and apparels to condoms and deodrants to manufacturing ring gears used in automobiles aside from bearings for water pumps. Aside from hinting at layoffs, Singhania also revealed that he will not be taking home any salary until the lockdown is in place and will take a "substantial cut" even after the lockdown is lifted.

The listed stock Raymond Limited is down nearly 60% since the start of 2020 largely due to impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic. "The core textile business continues to be impacted by the low consumption with branded textiles posting muted topline growth despite price hikes and the channel sales in the apparel division witnessed significant discounting," a Karvy Stock Broking report said in early January this year.

Raymond top boss Gautam Singhania has been saying that he is looking to reduce debt for a few years now but his best laid plans have come cropper. The company's gross debt stood at nearly ₹2,420 crore at the end of December 2019 whereas the market value of the company was ₹1,819 crore on April 17.

There were about 7,087 employees on the rolls of Raymond at the end of March 2019 but there are many people working on contracts or with its channel partners, distributors etc. whose livelihoods are at stake.

Watch Singhania's entire video message here:

Here's the full transcript of Singhania's video message to his employees:

Hello and good afternoon to all the Raymon-ites.

As you know, the world is going through a very tough time, and the corporate crisis is getting bad to worse, not only in India but globally.

As many of you know, the lockdown has been extended to the 3rd of May currently. Whilst it is 3rd of May, I am pretty sure that this lockdown we get extended. In this environment, I think we have to survive at any cost. Liquidity is becoming a major problem and the teams within the organisation are working very hard to find liquidity.

We must conserve costs, at any cost, and also make sure that we focus on our collections. Every drop will count and we have to work very hard at staying afloat at this tough time.

Whilst I will address you all at the appropriate time, I just wanted to take this opportunity to message everybody to ask you to be safe, manage costs, collect money that is due to us and I'm sure this tough time will pass and we will last.

We are getting the support from all our trade partners and I'm sure the management team is fully committed to putting this behind us.

In light of the current situation, I have taken a decision that I will not be taking any salary from the company till the lockdown is in place, and even after that I will be taking a substantial reduction for the same.

Also, these are tough times right now and I think each and everybody in the organization will be required to take some tough measures and personal sacrifices.

We need to brace ourselves for this unprecedented time and I'm sure we will come out better at the end of it. I wish you all the very best in this endeavor and I will be continuously from time to time sending you messages on the same. I wish you and the family all the very best and be safe.

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