13,500 Employees From Byju’s And Paytm Set On A Quest For New Job Opportunities; What Sectors Are Showing Shoots Of Revival When It Comes To Employment Opportunities

Once regarded as India’s most valuable startup just under two years ago, Byju’s has experienced a significant decline in reputation over the past year.

The decline has been marked by various challenges, including financial constraints, legal disputes, diminished valuations, and current investor demands for a change in leadership; however, the heat is on for the employees faced with frequent layoffs and delays in salary payments.

As a result, an increasing number of employees are now seeking to leave the educational technology sector.

Paytm, on the other hand, faced a major setback on January 31st when the Reserve Bank of India, RBI directed Paytm Payments Bank to cease all banking operations within a month, and despite requests for a review, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has confirmed that the restrictions will remain in place.

Therefore, around 13,500 employees from these prominent startups are actively exploring alternative employment opportunities as both companies confront mounting pressure from investors and regulators.

The Jaw-Dropping Numbers
Data reveals that the job market currently hosts over 6,500 professionals from Paytm and an additional 7,000 from Byju’s who are available and seeking employment.

Just two months ago, the number of active job seekers from Paytm ranged from 800 to 1,200; however, within the past two weeks alone, nearly 5,000 more employees have joined the ranks of active job seekers, constituting over 70% of the total pool seeking employment at Paytm.

Similarly, at Byju’s, the number of active job seekers has surged from 2,000 to 3,000 within the past two months, with an additional 5,000 employees expressing interest in transitioning to new roles in recent weeks.

As per most recruiters, the current job market poses significant challenges for job seekers despite their willingness to accept considerable salary reductions due to a hiring slowdown in the startup ecosystem.

Prasadh M S, head of workforce research at Xpheno, remarked, “The prevailing job market, characterized by ongoing headwinds and uncertainties on a macroeconomic scale, presents formidable obstacles for both experienced professionals and fresh graduates alike.”

He emphasized that enterprises, grappling with margin pressures, are implementing austerity measures, and the conservative approach towards talent acquisition is expected to persist for several more quarters.

Over the past five quarters, demand for hiring in both the tech and non-tech startup sectors has remained stagnant or minimal, with edtech and fintech ventures facing similar challenges, according to Prasadh.

He stressed that issues concerning funding, governance, and product relevance have added to the difficulties for leading players in these industries.

Xpheno’s data reveals that more than three-fourths of job-seeking employees from Byju’s and Paytm fall within the salary range of Rs 5-10 lakh and individuals with less than four years of experience constitute approximately 65% of the accessible talent pool at Byju’s and about 42% at Paytm.

The Trend In 2024
According to the latest data from the talent platform Foundit, hiring activity in India witnessed a 5% decline in January 2024 compared to the previous year. However, there was a 3% growth on a month-on-month basis compared to December 2023.

Post the Interim Budget 2024, the employment outlook for the Indian job market appears optimistic, as per the foundit Insights Tracker (fit), which analyzed hiring trends across various sectors including Travel & Tourism, Telecom/ISP, BFSI, and Logistics, Courier/Freight/Transport.

These sectors have shown consistent and positive momentum in hiring activities, contributing to a 5% overall growth in job posting activity observed over the past three months, indicating a recovery in employment opportunities.

Notably, on a month-on-month basis, the Telecom/ISP, BFSI, logistics, and courier/freight/transport sectors displayed a 5% increase in job postings.

The year has commenced positively, witnessing the recovery of previously sluggish sectors and signalling an optimistic outlook for the future.

Interestingly, the travel & tourism sector showed the highest increase (6%) in job postings on a month-on-month basis.

Meanwhile, legal, marketing, and communications emerged as the top job functions with a 7% increase in online hiring activity.

Positive hiring trends were observed for GCCs and Indian enterprises, particularly in job roles such as Sales & Business Development (2%), HR and Admin (2%), and Finance & Accounts (1%).

However, certain job roles experienced a downward trend in hiring, including Purchase/Logistics/Supply chain (-3%), Engineering/Production (-2%), Customer Service (-2%), and Senior Management positions (-2%).

In January 2024, despite a cautious market sentiment, sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, and FMCG experienced notable year-on-year job growth, as indicated by the Naukri JobSpeak Index.

The overall index for January stood at 2455, marking a 1% increase from the previous month but reflecting an 11% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Artificial intelligence (AI) roles saw a significant surge in demand, with new job openings in this field increasing by 12% compared to the previous year.

Niche AI-related positions, including machine learning engineer and full stack AI scientist, witnessed impressive growth rates of 46% and 23%, respectively, year-on-year. Additionally, conventional AI roles such as data scientist remained in high demand.

Senior professionals, particularly those with more than 16 years of experience, were highly sought after in the job market.

Hiring activity for this experience bracket surged by 19% compared to the previous year, while Professionals with 13-16 years of experience also saw a modest increase of almost 2% in new job offers.

However, individuals with 8-12 years of experience, 4-7 years of experience, and freshers experienced declines of 18%, 7%, and 10%, respectively, in new job offers compared to January 2023.

In terms of salary brackets, job offers exceeding Rs 20 lakh per annum saw an 18% increase, while offers within the range of Rs 13-20 lakh experienced a slight decline of 1%.

At the same time, offers below Rs 12 lakh per annum witnessed a more significant decrease.