Indian startups have already laid off a little over 11,000 people in the last six months

Over 11,000 individuals have been laid off by Indian startups in the previous six months, as the flow of finance is projected to remain dull for the next 18-24 months. Experts believe that 60,000 startup employees would lose their employment this year, which might worsen the situation in the near future.

According to a back-of-the-envelope calculation done by Business Insider India, 25 firms in the country have fired 11,615 individuals since January of this year. Ten of these startups were in the e-commerce industry, while seven were in the edtech space.

The firing list also included seven unicorn startups: Blinkit, Ola, Vedantu, Unacademy, and Mobile Premier League (MPL). It should be noted that Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers, was a unicorn at the time the layoffs were imposed but lost that title once Zomato acquired the company.

Ola, the ride-hailing company, employed one-fifth of those affected. In April 2022, Ola sacked 2,100 contract workers hired to operate the company's dark store. It chose to restructure its quick commerce division, Ola Dash, resulting in these layoffs. It shut down Ola Dash and its used car section, Ola Cars, last week. The number of employees directly impacted by these shutdowns has not yet been announced.

Zomato last week acquired Blinkit, which also fired 1,600 workers in March. Byju's, the most valuable edtech startup in the world, has also terminated 600 employees at WhiteHat Jr. and Toppr. Additionally, Whitehat Jr. urged 1,000 employees to resign if they were unable to return to work.

The Indian startup ecosystem is not prospering as well as it did last year. The segment that flourished during the pandemic is now bearing the weight of the Russia-Ukraine war, which has resulted in inflation and a liquidity shortage, limiting companies' capacity to get funding. Investors are becoming more choosy and conservative.

Vamsi Krishna, chief executive officer and co-founder of Vedantu, in a statement said, “Currently, the external environment is tough. War in Europe, impending recession fears, and Fed rate interest hikes have led to inflationary pressures with massive correction in stocks globally and in India as well. Given this environment, capital will be scarce in upcoming quarters.”