Chennai, Nov 8 (IANS): Commercial vehicle-maker Ashok Leyland Friday announced a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its executive cadre as the market continued to show a downslide.

In a statement issued here, the company said the VRS was conceived as a response to the continuing slowdown in the market. The scheme aimed to reduce manpower costs and align fixed costs to reduced activity levels.

"While the company maintained market share in the last quarter, volume pressures continue and we need to take some definite steps to manage the slowdown. The VRS package will be fair and would provide adequate compensation to any employee who opts for it," Vinod K Dasari, managing director, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The VRS announcement comes a day after the company reported a net loss of Rs.167 crore for the first half of the current fiscal as against a profit of Rs.210 crore posted for the same period the previous year.

According to Ashok Leyland, the market continued to contract with the total industry volume in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) segment down by 25 percent.

Ashok Leyland clocked total M&HCV volumes of 30,820 units (41,411 units previous year) and light commercial vehicle (LCV) volumes of 14,021 units (15,913 units).

According to a company official, the company has a total workforce of 12,000 people and the outgo under the VRS cannot be estimated now.

The official also said it was not possible to estimate the number of executives who would opt for the VRS.