Bharat Forge to cut jobs

Bharat Forge Ltd (BFL), the Kalyani Group’s flagship company, will continue to downsize its workforce to cut costs, Amit Kalyani, executive director, said on Wednesday.

Kalyani said, “There are still tremendous cost cutting opportunities and we will continue the exercise till the end of this year.” He said that a lot of suppliers are going bankrupt and the company wants to position itself as a robust supplier so it gains when volumes pick up. He said volumes have fallen substantially and there is slowdown in overall demand.

“We are targeting new customers and new segments with existing customers,” Kalyani said. “Business in Europe and the US has been affected and may need support. Money will go to them from India and other businesses.”

Kalyani said demand for automobile forgings may revive in October-March. “Demand would hopefully revive in the second half (of the current fiscal). We are now producing only for demand. We’ve drastically cut down on inventories,” he added.

On May 20, the company reported that its standalone net profit fell 26% to Rs 61 crore in the March ended quarter from Rs 83 crore in the same period the previous fiscal. With NW18