Delhi NCR-based unicorns hired the highest number of employees across all major Indian startup hubs between August 2023 and August 2024, racing past key regions such as Bengaluru and Mumbai, according to a report by PrivateCircle, a private market intelligence platform. Delhi-based firms such as PolicyBazaar, Blinkit, and Zomato led the hiring in the national capital region.
Unicorns, startups valued at or above $1 billion, in the NCR hired 18,554 employees in the 12- month period, significantly higher than Bengaluru which added 2,384 staffers, PrivateCircle's research found.
In Mumbai, a startup hub, unicorns' hiring saw a net decline of 7,024 employees, almost similar to Pune and Hyderabad.
In all, NCR added the highest number of employees followed by Chennai and Bengaluru. Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad all saw a drop in total unicorn startup employees. It was possibly because large companies such as Zepto moved their headquarters out of Mumbai to Bengaluru, as Moneycontrol exclusively reported.
The PrivateCircle report did not shed light on the total employee base in the three regions which could mean Delhi NCR, despite adding more staffers in the period under review, has fewer people working at startups than Bengaluru in total.
Of the 117 unicorns in India, Bengaluru is home to 42, Delhi-NCR belt 26 and Mumbai (including Pune and Thane) 25, which means the employee base in Bengaluru is larger than other regions.
While unicorn startups have grown in size and generated more revenues, their employee base has largely remained stable, also a factor of mass layoffs in the previous months.
"Unicorns continue to be large employers in India. We find that the compounded revenue growth among most unicorns has been in high double digits over a two-year period and yet these unicorns have maintained stable employee numbers,” said Murali Logananthan, Director of Research at PrivateCircle.
Chennai sees an uptick
Chennai reported the second highest employee additions in unicorns with a total increase of 4,785 staffers, PrivateCircle said. The city has also topped the list of total headcount addition by global capability centres (GCCs), as reported by Moneycontrol.
Startups' hiring sentiment usually follows the prevailing funding trajectory. After a prolonged period of declining funding, in line with the so-called funding winter, startups investments have increased 14 percent YoY to $10.9 billion in 2024, so far, data from market research firm Venture Intelligence shows.
Hiring at unicorns picked up from March 2024, where 42,000 employees were hired. Firms like Paytm, PB Fintech and BigBasket drove up the numbers, the report added.
Amid a recovering funding landscape, layoffs declined 46 percent year-on-year to 8,895 in 2024. With the new year right around the corner, hiring at startups is expected to increase between 20 and 30 percent, Moneycontrol reported earlier.
Attrition at startups also remained stable. According to the report, on average, attrition rate was at 4.5 percent. Companies such as Zerodha, Zoho and MapMyIndia managed to maintain attrition rates of around a percent or lower. Other unicorns that had below two percent attrition rates include Ather Energy, Druva, Dream Sports, Icertis, and Uniphore.
For context, attrition in Indian corporates was in the 15-17 percent range in 2023, as per reports.
There, however, was some volatility during the 12 months. More employees left unicorns than joined between Aug 2023 and Aug 2024, as the total workforce of India’s unicorns saw a net decrease of around 6,700, PrivateCircle said.
India’s 116 unicorns employed 410,829 people in August 2024, down from 417,561 in the year-ago period.
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