Gopinath cuts costs, sends expats home

Bangalore/Mumbai: Domestic low-fare aviation pioneer G.R. Gopinath has taken the shears to his cargo airline, cutting costs by shedding expatriate employees at the company that recently sold a stake to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
The expat employees let go include Jude E. Fonseka, chief executive of Gopinath’s Deccan Cargo and Express Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Fonseka is a Sri Lankan settled in Australia.
RIL, India’s most valuable company by market value, bought a stake put at anywhere between 26% and 50% in the company that runs freighters under the Deccan 360 brand for an undisclosed amount, it announced on 16 April.
Fonseka, who used to work for FedEx Corp., will be retained as a consultant. He was hired to turn Deccan Cargo, which started cargo flights in May, into an Indian version of the global logistics provider.
Gopinath, chairman of Deccan Cargo, told Mint that senior expatriates had quit the company at intervals as contracts had ended.
“We had seven-eight expats at senior management. Now, we have no expats at the company,” he said. “However, Fonseka is now a full-time consultant at Deccan 360.”
Gopinath, who founded India’s first low-fare carrier Air Deccan (later sold to Kingfisher Airlines Ltd), said expatriates had to be paid top salaries and that local executives had been trained to fill those roles.
Fonseka declined to elaborate on his move.
28/04/10 K. Raghu and P.R.Sanjai/Live Mint

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Categories: Cargo Apr 2010, Deccan 360 Apr 2010, Foreign Apr 2010