Startups feel the head of slowing capital funding environment; slashes recruitment targets by 50%

With investors becoming extra cautious in doling out capital funds to the startups and instead scrutinizing each and every aspect of the strategy for becoming profitable, the recruitment process has gone for a hit. According to recruitment companies, the hiring at startups has dropped by 10-50% in recent times. The trend can be seen in ecommerce, logistics, grocery and food delivery startups with large players putting a freeze on recruitments and smaller players resorting to layoffs. However, the financial technology startups are the exceptions, primarily due to the country’s digitization ambitions.

Joseph Devasia, MD Antal International said that “We were getting about 100 requisitions a month from startups for senior and midlevel hiring 12 months ago. Today, we get a maximum of 30-40. With investors now asking companies to focus on profits and cut down on spends, hiring managers are more cautious”. Although the hiring hiatus is across the hierarchy, the senior management/executive positions are the most impacted. Ashish Sanganeria, Partner at executive search firm Longhouse Consulting said that “Among the top 10 ecommerce companies, there have been only 35-40 hires at the leadership level in the past six months, while the number was in triple digits in early 2016”. With the startup universe looking at a gloomy 2017, the fintech industry is expected to provide the necessary cushion to the big picture.