CHART: Indian startups laid off 9,400 employees in Q1 2023

Startups in India laid off about 9,400 employees in the first quarter of 2023, according to data from recruitment firm Careernet, driven by ongoing funding winter in the region.

According to the report, about 70% of all startups laid off 100-300 people each in the quarter with Edtech firms Byju’s, Unacademy, social media startup ShareChat, apartment-management platform MyGate and car-servicing company GoMechanic among the startups with the most number of cuts made to their team. Overall, Edtech startups have laid off the largest numbers – over 1,000 employees at a time, according to the report.

Meanwhile hiring in senior roles has also dropped around 80% in the March quarter compared to the same period last year, according to Careernet. This trend was visible across all startup industries including fintech, e-commerce, Edtech, SaaS and health-tech among others.

The Techloy chart below shows the analysis of fresh hires based on new senior positions with annual salary packages exceeding Rs 50 lakh across all industries. Edtech and e-commerce were severely impacted as hiring in the March quarter was down 93% and 84%, respectively, compared with the same period last year.