Hotel chain startup Oyo today denied rumors that the India-based firm has fired 1,000-plus employees from its China team.

But the startup – valued at US$5.7 billion amid global expansion of its Uber-for-motels business – did confirm to Tech in Asia that some people were fired, with a China-based spokesperson saying that Oyo will “not continue to hold low performers in the organization.”

Oyo is still expanding with an eye on “sustainable performance growth” and has 8,500 global employees at present – a figure that’s expected to rise to 10,000 by the year-end and 15,000 in 2020, according to the company spokesperson.

Chinese tech blog Jiemian yesterday reported that half of the estimated 2,000 business development team at Oyo China had been axed, plus an additional half of staff on the operations team (of an unspecified size), but an Oyo representative in China today would not confirm the number.

Another executive, Sundeep Babbar, told Tech in Asia that there’s “a lot of wrong information” going around, but likewise declined to give specific details.