Bajaj Auto has pruned its workforce by around 1,100 last year.

The two-wheeler major's employee strength currently stands reduced to 12,338 from 13,482 in 2001-02.

The total outgo towards the compensation paid to employees under its voluntary retirement scheme operational last year was around Rs 46.1 crore (Rs 461 million), up 531 per cent from the previous year.

The company had spent Rs 7.3 crore (Rs 73 million) towards the VRS plan in the previous year.

The move is a part of the company's efforts to cut flab by over 4,000 over a three-year period.

According to the company's annual report, it has reduced its workforce to the current level from 18,585 employees in 1998-99. The company had around 23,000 employees on its payroll in 1993.

An e-mailed questionnaire to Rajiv Bajaj, joint managing director of Bajaj Auto, remained unanswered.

The company executives declined to comment on the employee reduction target for the current year.

Bajaj Auto is also in the process of hiring young professionals for its Chakan plant. The idea, according to the company, is to infuse fresh talent.

The recruitment programme is likely to be for the company's Chakan plant that produces its Pulsar range of bikes.

The facility employs around 300 and is gearing up to produce K-60, the executive segment bike, which is the first variant from the Pulsar platform.

The company had earlier said that it is aiming at improving the productivity of each employee to a vehicle per day or targets to produce 10,000 vehicles per day with a workforce of 10,000.

Bajaj Auto, which built itself into one of the world's largest two-wheeler company, is executing a change in its focus.

While scooters had been its mainstay for decades, the company has been shifting its focus to motorbikes, the fastest growing segment in the industry.

Also, margins in motorcycles are also more than in scooters, where the margins are gradually shrinking, and facing stiff competition from new entrant Honda.