Talent drain hits India's unicorn startups, attrition rate reaches 4.5%: Report

With 33,289 employees tendering their resignation, India's unicorn startups faced a massive talent drain in August 2024. According to a report by PrivateCircle Research, India's startup workforce witnessed a net decline of 6700 employees from August 2023 to 2024.

More than 39,000 employees left unicorn companies in September 2023, the highest in the aforementioned period. This could be a result of layoffs or employees quitting their jobs. Between January and August 2024, a total of 253,516 employees departed from unicorn startups, the data added.

A unicorn company is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion that is not listed on the stock market.

As per the EPFO filings of the 116 unicorns, the attrition rate stood at 4.5 percent between August 2023 and 2024. Notably, online brokerage platform Zerodha and tech startups Zoho and MapmyIndia managed to maintain attrition rates of around 1 percent or lower. Additionally, unicorns such as electric 2-wheeler startup Ather Energy, SaaS startup Druva and Icertis, sports-tech platform Dream Sports, and automation firm Uniphore managed attrition rates below 2 percent during the aforementioned period.

'Hiring in unicorns'

The 116 unicorns added 4,10,829 employees to their workplace in August 2024, compared to 4,17,561 in August 2023. And, in 2024 alone, they added 272,308 employees.

The hiring picked up in March 2024 with 42,000 employees added in a single month. Some of the unicorns that saw significant workforce increments in March 2024 were Paytm, BigBasket, and PB Fintech among others.

Across all major startup hubs, Delhi NCR saw the maximum additions in the total number of employees at 18,554 (August 2023-24). Some of the mass recruiters from Delhi NCR included PolicyBazaar, Blinkit, and Zomato.

The second-highest employee additions were recorded in Chennai-based unicorns at 4,785, followed by Bengaluru at 2,384. In contrast, Mumbai-based unicorns saw a net decrease of 7,024 employees from the cumulative workforce. Pune and Hyderabad have also recorded a decrease in their overall workforce numbers at 643 and 66, respectively.

"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 two years, and yet these unicorns have maintained stable employee numbers. This signals efficient usage of human capital even during periods of high growth. The monthly net change in unicorn workforce has stayed between -0.9% and 2.5% during the selected time period," Dr Murali Logananthan, Director of Research at PrivateCircle said.