'They Quietly Wiped Out 30% Of The Team': Viral CRED Layoff Allegations Spark Fresh Debate On India’s Startup Job Crisis

A viral post alleging mass layoffs at fintech giant CRED has sparked intense debate online, with users questioning the startup’s hiring practices. The controversy began after a post shared on Grapevine by the community page Fintech India claimed that the company had quietly reduced a significant portion of its technology workforce over the past couple of months.

The post alleged that more than 30% of CRED’s tech team had been laid off within a span of one to two months. The viral post read, “Mass layoffs at CRED , they wiped out more than 30% of their tech team in the span of last 1-2 months .

Handled it very smartly by silently laying off employees every week , without creating a buzz . Have given severance to some , but not for all . Mostly

targeted senior employees while aggressively hiring interns.”

As the claims spread online, social media users began reacting strongly, with many questioning the company’s profitability narrative and comparing the alleged layoffs to cost-cutting measures adopted by other startups.

“Kunal Shah been damn quiet about PIPs. Guess they took the Swiggy/PhonePe playbook of kicking employees to the curb,” wrote one user.

Another commented, “Now it makes sense to why Kunal posted CRED is seeing profit.”

A third user speculated about the company’s future plans and wrote, “This must be a quick access to show profitability to investors and follow ipo like their counterparts.”

“They are burning money like theirs no tomorrow ..now for IPO they need to do this,” another person said.

The discussion soon moved over to X, formerly Twitter, where the same claims were reposted and gained traction among startup employees and tech professionals.

“Interns can’t replicate what senior do. I have experienced it first hadn,” wrote one user.

Another user pointed to a broader startup hiring pattern and commented, “Most startups always over hire.”

One of the most widely circulated reactions criticised the larger tech industry trend, saying, “Big Tech’s new profit formula: Step 1: Overhire like crazy, Step 2: Blame AI, Step 3: Replace seniors with interns, Step 4: Let interns cook spaghetti code, Step 5: Silent weekly layoffs and Step 6: Tweet “profits are addictive”.”

🤔 https://t.co/ZvnnI5DTDH pic.twitter.com/0Tt0a0e89T

— hiroshi (@daddynohara) May 26, 2026

“Only way to profitability for companies is to layoff employees,” another user wrote, while one more simply added, “That’s why they are in profit.”

Some reactions were also critical of the company itself, with one user remarking, “King of Unauthorised payments.”