As the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown impacted many businesses with start-ups being the worst hit, a survey has shown that only 59 percent of start-ups paid out employee bonuses between April and November in order to conserve cash. Around 70 percent startups have been impacted by the pandemic and 68 percent are cutting down their operational and administrative expenses, according to a survey by RazorpayX, the neo-banking arm of Razorpay.

The survey further showed that the start-ups are taking measures to conserve cash as they are expecting a decline in profits due to the pandemic, including deferring bonuses and additional benefits to employees. So far in this financial year, only 59 percent startups paid out employee bonuses between April and November, it added. RazorpayX has analysed the data on transactions based on salaries and reimbursements made by startups on the RazorpayX Payroll platform (Opfin) between April and November 2020.

The survey stated that as work-from-home has become the norm, employees' out-of-office expenses significantly reduced in startups. Reimbursements saw a decline of 27 percent in the first three months (April-June) of the lockdown and saw a 55 percent spike between July and November, as companies started to provide reimbursements (furniture and broadband connectivity, among others) for a comfortable remote working set-up, it added. During the first few months of COVID-19, travel and hotel reimbursements fell 90 percent and 74 percent, respectively, and food and fuel saw a decline of 83 percent and 60 percent, respectively.

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