Start-Ups Slow Down, Cut Jobs

The changing post-pandemic business climate, uncertainties around the ukraine war and a global funds squeeze are forcing some Indian start-ups to sack hundreds of their staff.How long will the pain last?

- M.G. Arun

Prateek Shetty (name changed), 29, a junior sales executive in a Bangalore-based edutech startup, got the shock of his life in early May. Over e-mail, he was told his services would no longer be required, and that he had to put in his papers in the next few days. Several of his colleagues also received the same message. “We were given no explanation as to why we were being fired,” says a distraught Shetty. Frequent e-mails from his seniors did talk about a plunge in sales in the weeks before the layoffas Covid cases abated and schools and colleges reopened. Senior staffers were told to reduce costs in various departments, but a job cut came as a total surprise. “I was not even given a full salary for the whole month, and was asked to resign within a week,” he says. The Rs 5 lakh a year salary was just enough for him to take care of his retired parents and partly pay for his younger brother’s education. Shetty has turned to social media now to scout for a new job. “I have got a few referrals through Twitter, attended some interviews too, but haven’t got an offer yet. There are fewer jobs in start-ups now,” he says.