A 'ban' on the lay-off question

India’s third-largest information technology (IT) firm, Wipro, appears to be firmly against the idea of lay-offs, the flavour of the season in the Indian IT services industry reeling under slow growth. A journalist’s question using the word “lay-off” seemed to take the company’s chief executive, Abidali Neemuchwala by surprise. He was quick to “ban” the question, saying it was as good as asking someone “when did you last beat your wife?” Another senior executive reaffirmed on his behalf that the company was not laying off employees; on the contrary, it was taking in more people.