India's startup ecosystem is facing a much more severe job crisis than expected, reports The Hindustan Times, citing staffing firms and recruiters. Layoffs at new-age businesses are estimated to be at least three times higher than publicly disclosed. In the past 24 months alone, more than 1,400 companies have dismissed around 91,000 employees. Factoring in concealed layoffs, an indirect way of reducing the headcount, the figure may have touched 120,000, data from tech-focused hiring firm TopHire shows.

Prominent firms, including unicorns or startups valued at USD 1 billion, have also downsized their teams. "Startups have let go at least twice the reported numbers, including contract employees who lost their jobs," said Shiv Agrawal, managing director of ABC Consultants.

Consultants and contract employees comprise a large part of the startup workforce and are often not mapped during these layoff drives. Lohit Bhatia, president of workforce management at Quess Corp, said that while direct employee layoffs are reported, startups employ many employees who are not on their payroll, including fixed-term workers gig and freelance professionals. "Their status will not be reflected in the down-sizing process," he added.