Reliance cut 38,000 people in its retail arm in FY24, annual report shows

One of country’s largest business houses, Reliance Group reduced its employee strength significantly in FY2024. Additionally, in search of an integrated collusion to its businesses, the diversified conglomerate also reduced the number of hirings in the last financial year, in comparison to FY2023.

In FY2024, the Mumbai-headquartered group brought down its total employee strength to 347,362 from 389,414 in the end of FY2023 - a total reduction of 42,052 people Ito its workforce. In FY24, among the total employees in Reliance Group, 53.9% were below the age of 30, and 21.4% were female.

According to its annual report, of the total voluntary separations, 74.9% were below the age of 30, and 22.7% were female. Overall voluntary separations in FY2024 were lower than FY2023. “The retail industry typically has a high employee turnover rate, especially in store operations. For Jio, 43% of reported attrition includes non-regular employees (fixed-term contracts, part-\ time, apprentice and interns). A shift towards commission-based job roles in the Jio workforce reduced overall need for new hiring in field jobs,” it said.

Data shows, during the year Reliance’s hirings were at a slower pace in comparison to the previous fiscal year. In FY24, the group hired some 1.71 lakh new employees across its diverse businesses. In FY23, Reliance had welcomed 262,558 new recruits onboard - taking its overall employee count to 389,414. Of the total new hires, 81.8% were below the age of 30, and 24.0% were female.

Out of the overall reduction in the number of employees, most came from its retail division. Reliance Retail, which houses the most number of employees for the group, witnessed its numbers go down to 207, 552 employees at the end of FY24 - down from 2.45 lakh - or a reduction of nearly 38,000 people.

Last year, Reliance Retail - the largest retail chain company in India - 18.3% growth in its operating revenue to Rs 273,131 crore - up from Rs 230,951 crore in FY23. While its EBITD (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortisation) are 28.4% to Rs 23,082 crore - expanding its EBITDA margin by 70 basis points to 8.5%. Profit after tax surged 21% to cross the Rs 10,000 crore mark for the first time.

While the store footfall and its registered customer base continued to grow, growth in the number of transaction has slowed in the past couple of quarters. In 2025, during the January-March and April-June quarters, RRL’s growth in number of transactions stood at 5.9% and 6.4%, respectively. This, despite high growth in the number of footfalls in its stores - growing 24.2% in January-March and 18.9% in April-June - reflecting a trend where despite more number of customers visiting stores, conversion has been comparatively lower.