India’s IT and startup sectors may lay off 15,000 to 20,000 employees in the next six months, battling slowing demand after the hiring frenzy of the last two years inflated salary costs, reports LiveMint citing research from Quess Corp. Recruitment consultants expect fewer hiring mandates in the months ahead and have decided not to enter new businesses for now, Quess Corp added. However, even as some IT and startup companies will shed staff to manage costs, others within the same sectors are hiring, too.

Lohit Bhatia, president of workforce management for recruitment firm Quess Corp, said, “We expect about 20,000 layoffs over the next few quarters. Over the last year, companies faced the fear of missing out on talent hiring and recruited in large numbers and paid them many folds more than inflation and market standards.” In FY23 so far, the two sectors have laid off more than 20,000 employees, including 1,400 in the first two weeks of January 2023.