Startup unicorns PB Fintech, which runs Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, Tata Group-owned Big Basket, and Faaso’s owner Rebel Foods are among the top recruiters this year, according to data from market intelligence platform Private Circle.
The data tracked 111 Indian unicorns from the top six cities between September 2022 to July 2023 – a period that did not add any new unicorns – and found that employee headcount during this period increased by 12,765 to 442,714 people in July.
“Hiring at unicorn startups seems to have picked up from April 2023, steadily jumping to 43,361 hired employees in July 2023,” the research firm said, adding that this hiring trend is irrespective of a global funding winter which has led many organisations to cut costs and layoff employees.
Industry data showed that startup funding in the first half of this year slumped by 72%, much in line with other geographies. Despite that, Indian startups had an average attrition rate of attrition rate of 4.72% between September and July.
Among them, Zerodha, software firm Zoho, and Hike, which shut down their messenger app and is now building mobile games, maintained their attrition rates under 1%.
Unicorns such as Freshworks, Acko, Cred, Games24x7, and Dream11 had an attrition rate of under 2% during this period.
The data noted that, within this period, December saw the highest attrition, when 44,295 employees quit, either because of layoffs or resignations. As per media reports, between 18,000-20,000 people were laid off by startups in 2022.
Among the companies that laid off employees en masse were Byju’s, Unacademy, WhiteHat Jr, Vedantu, Ola, Blinkit, Oyo, Meesho, Cars24, and more.
The data from Private Circle further noted that unicorns based in Delhi saw the highest net increase of 52,420 employees with Paytm, PhysicsWallah, PolicyBazaar, Delhivery, and BharatPe emerging as top recruiters. Bengaluru ranked the lowest with a net headcount decrease of 41,208.