(Reuters) – Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies Co has cut its India revenue target for 2020 by up to 50% and is laying off more than half of its staff in the country, the Economic Times reported on Monday, amid calls to boycott Chinese goods.
Huawei’s India unit said the report suggesting layoffs of more than half of Huawei staff in the country was untrue, but did not elaborate.
The newspaper said the company was targeting $350-500 million in revenue for 2020, compared with roughly $700-800 million it was aiming for earlier in Asia’s third-largest economy.
The Economic Times said the company was cutting 60-70% of its Indian staff, excluding those in research and development and the global service centre.
Huawei’s India unit said it continues “to work closely” with all customers in the country.
“Our India operations and resources, backed by robust local talent are designed to meet any customer requirements.”
The Economic Times report comes amid a rise in anti-China sentiment in India following the killing of 20 Indian soldiers by Chinese forces in a Himalayan border dispute last month.
India has also told two state-run telecoms firms to use locally-made rather than Chinese telecom equipment to upgrade their mobile networks to 4G. (https://reut.rs/2ByrjhH)
(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal in New Delhi, David Kirton in Hong Kong, additional reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Philippa Fletcher)
