Citi India asks 37 senior execs to quit

Mumbai: The tagline was 'Citi never sleeps'. Now, neither do its employees.

A day after announcing job cuts, which it said would have little impact in India, Citi India has shown the door to 37 of its senior employees.

The pink slips were given to a number of veterans in the retail banking team, while investment banking, treasury, and Citi's global transaction business have also seen some actions. Citi is reported to have given a three-month notice, plus a month's salary for every completed year of service to these employees.

Citi India's top man Sanjay Nayar, too, has moved on from the bank to private equity firm KKR, leaving his position vacant for Mark Robinson, an expatriate.

Reports suggest that banking industry sources think this could be only a taste of what is in store, with a possible shakeout in the offing. The US media has been rife with reports that the bank is in deep trouble, and is desperately seeking options, including selling parts of the company or a possible merger with another firm, since its stock value evaporated by 50 per cent during this week.

Outgoing Citi stalwart Nayar was quoted in the media as saying that the number of actions that would be seen in India would be minimal, even as the bank hires around 45 students from the Indian Institutes of Management and other business schools this year. However, that has failed to stop the shockwave from rippling out in the bank's retail banking division, since a number of those handed the pink slips were vice presidents or above.