While company officials were not willing to comment on the number of lay-offs, they did affirm that the company's CEO, Mr Digvijay Singh, has also put in his papers. Mr Singh has been replaced by Mr Sanjay Krishnan who is currently acting CEO of India.com. Mr Krishnan has been heading Internet Resources Pvt Ltd, which is an India.com company that focuses on Internet solutions.

When contacted, Mr Krishnan confirmed the developments and said: "The prevalent market conditions called for this move.

In line with market realities, there has been a shift from a long range to a shorter range performance perspective.''

Sources indicate that channels that will be discontinued include shopping, IT, sports and breaking news. Music, movies and finance are expected to continue. The company's focus is expected to shift from content generation to content aggregation.

Mr Krishnan elaborated that the company plans to focus on Entropy - a Full Service Offering business which is part of Internet Resources Private Limited.

This business segment is expected to contribute in a major way towards meeting the company's revenue targets.

"Most of the investment henceforth will go into Entropy and the portal operations will be run keeping in mind a more realistic and market driven cost structure," Mr Krishnan added.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, some employees indicated that a core group of about 25 people has been retained in the company. This core group belongs largely to the technical team with some members from business development, software solutions services and content.

The company also plans to focus on Multiple Zones - India.com's B2B business. The decisions appear to have been taken following a board meeting in the US last week.