ShareChat parent firm MohallaTech has recently terminated over 500 employees, around 20 per cent of its workforce, adding to the 100 jobs or so the company cut last year in December.

The Bengaluru-based company, which raised $255 million from Google’s parent company Alphabet and other investors in June 2022, will pay the complete salary for the notice period as well as an additional two weeks’ gross salary for each year served with the firm.

“We are taking a very difficult decision today to part ways with around 20% of our talented FTEs (full-time employees) to ensure the financial health and longevity of our company in the current uncertain macroeconomic environment,” said CEO Ankush Sachdeva in an internal note to the employees.

A week earlier, Reliance Retail-backed grocery delivery startup Dunzo laid off three per cent of its staff, likely to be around 60-80 employees, as a cost-cutting exercise. Amazon India has reportedly already begun its planned 1,000 layoffs in the country, as part of the total 18,000 job cuts to happen globally January 2023 onwards. Amazon India employees are breaking down in their offices after being informed about their termination, according to a post on online employee community platform Grapevine, as reported by The Economic Times.

In just the first three weeks of 2023, startups such as LEAD, Unacademy, Moglix, upGrad, Ola and Cashfree have announced 60, 40, 40, 60, 200 and 100 layoffs respectively. With the current funding winter deepening, startups in India have fired close to 20,000 employees since the beginning of 2022 until now.

The new year may yet bring some respite to employees who are questioning their future amid the ongoing firing spree. The rising number of layoffs by startups and digital platforms is expected to slow down by mid-2023, hiring experts recently told Financial Express. By the middle of next year, companies in the digital space may go back to hiring to fuel their growth plans, they added.