Walmart Inc has fired 56 of its executives in India as part of a restructuring exercise in the country.

The move underscores the challenges Walmart has faced in expanding its wholesale business in India. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company runs 28 wholesale stores in India.

The sackings have mostly affected executives in Walmart’s real estate division, which takes care of store expansion, as the wholesale business model did not bring in expected growth.

Eight of the 56 executives fired were in “senior management” roles and the rest from middle or lower management, Krish Iyer, president and CEO of Walmart India, said in a statement.

“We are looking for ways to operate more efficiently, which require us to review our corporate structure to ensure that we are organised in the right way,” Iyer said, adding the fired executives had been offered enhanced severance benefits.

Oyo layoffs

Hospitality firm Oyo plans to let go over 1,000 people in India as part of its restructuring of teams across businesses to trim redundancy.

In an internal mail to the employees of Oyo in India and South Asia, founder and group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said asking some of the colleagues to move to a new career outside of Oyo has not been an “easy decision”.