Oyo gives B-schools a miss amid company rejig

KOLKATA: Amid layoffs and restructuring, Oyo Hotels and Rooms has suspended further campus hiring for now, but the hospitality chain said the exercise will not impact job offers already rolled out at institutes.

The SoftBank-backed hospitality chain, which is under pressure to rein in costs and streamline operations, has/will be giving most B-schools, including IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Kozhikode and SPJIMR where it was a recruiter last year, a miss during final placements, the institutes told ET. Of these, IIMK and SPJIMR have already completed placements.

At IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Guwahati, where the company has recruited for product and software roles, the hiring was done primarily through the pre-placement offer (PPO) route.

From the Class of 2020, Oyo has hired five from IIT Kanpur, seven from IIT Kharagpur, and made atleast seven offers at IIT Madras. It has hired atleast four students from IIT Guwahati during final placements, and nine from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon. The latter, where Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal is on the board of governors, seems to be an exception among B-schools, with Oyo emerging as the top ecommerce recruiter.

Meanwhile, the company said offers already made will be honoured. “We are committed to honouring the jobs offered to every one of our campuses hires and haven’t rolled back any offer letters,” an Oyo spokesperson said in an email response to ET.

While the break-up of offers was not immediately available to ET, several placement cells said Oyo’s hiring figure has dropped significantly since last year.

IIM Calcutta placements chairperson Abhishek Goel said Oyo is not coming for hiring in any of the programmes and that the company had informed them about it earlier. It has not rolled out any PPOs either, he added.

IIM Bangalore career development services head Sapna Agrawal said Oyo has not confirmed participation in final placements. IIM Kozhikode said the company hasn’t participated in the placements process.

Several institutes said that students with Oyo offers in hand have been in touch with the company and alumni working there. “They rely on feedback from alumni and have been assured that campus recruits are not at risk,” said a placement head who did not want to be named. Another institute said students hired last year have not been affected by the recent spate of layoffs at Oyo.

In a recent interview with ET, Rohit Kapoor, Oyo’s new chief executive for India and South Asia, had said that the company is asking 15-20% of its 12,000 employees to go in a “one-time exercise”.