India’s health and fitness startup Curefit has reportedly laid off over 800 employees and shut down a number of gyms and centres across India and the UAE in a move to cut costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Commenting over the news, a spokesperson of Curefit in a statement said,
“The lockdown has affected all our business offerings and we do not see the situation improving for quite some time,”
“This unprecedented situation has forced us to close operations in small towns in India and the UAE.”
The company started its operations in Dubai, UAE last June and have now downsized its employee base across markets and initiated pay cuts across all levels.
The statement further adds that the company has decided not to reopen a number of centres across some smaller cities in India.
While the company founders will forgo their salaries, the management team and other staff would be taking a 50-20 percent pay cut as part of a plan to cut costs.
The company came up with the announcement via its official Twitter handle on May 4, showing the official statement encompassing the details of employee layoffs, salary cuts and Curefit centre shut downs.
“Given the current pandemic and restrictions across the country, our business is going through significant changes. The lockdown has affected our business offerings and we do not see the situation improving for some time…”
As reported by Reuters, Curefit claims that 90 percent of its trainers are still unimpaired and the company roughly had 5000 employees across India, including those at its cure.fit and eat.fit units offering medical services and healthy eating options.
