Hiring to pick-up in India in coming months

Over the past few months there had been rigorous cost-cutting, including freeze on fresh recruitments and even reducing size of workforce in some cases, but now, according to different surveys several Indian companies are planning to increase hiring process in coming months.

Recently Economic Times conducted a survey on selective listed companies across various sectors such as telecom, infrastructure, consumer goods, auto, pharma, technology and power and all of them informed that they have plans to increase their workforce in the next three-six months. Some of the few companies planning to increase hiring include Infosys Technologies, Maruti Suzuki, Lupin Pharmaceuticals and Standard Chartered Bank.

Another survey done by job portal TimesJobs.com stated an increase in hiring process among Indian companies. The survey, which surveyed 5,000 companies across sectors in Indian metros, depicted that almost half the companies from Delhi and Mumbai are planning to increase hiring in the current quarter.

Also the IT capital Bangalore is likely to start hiring process after seeing mass layoffs in the past quarter of 2008, with one-fourth of the firms planning to increase their workforce this quarter. Although 52% of these firms told they are tasking replacement hiring. According to the survey conducted by TJ InSite, the research wing of TimesJobs.com four-fifths of the firms in Delhi and 57% recruiters in Mumbai are hiring to prepare for growth.

However the result depicts that Corporate India is optimistic about the economy despite the alarming threat of a drought due to shortage of rains in this monsoon season and the fears of swine flu that has sparked panic in several cities. Sunit Mehra, managing partner of executive search company Hunt Partners, “Swine flu is not a pandemic yet; unless it goes to such proportions, there will be no impact on the job market”.

Although these concerns remain, India Inc’s are optimistic due to economic recovery and has truly begun gaining traction across sectors. In July car sales robust and industrial production figures bear out this optimism.

Also globally positive signs are encouraging with lower-than-expected decline in the US economic growth for June quarter and a rebound to growth of the South Korean economy. Vivek Madhukar, vice-president of TimesJobs.com said, “The quarter-on-quarter growth that India Inc has witnessed both in terms of revenues and profits, and the continuation of government stability, policies and commitments, have brought a more optimistic business forecast for organizations”.

The TimesJob conducted survey covering sectors such as IT, BPO & ITeS, engineering, logistics, healthcare, architecture, hospitality, travel & tourism, finance & accounting and sales & marketing.

Last year India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, who had hired 300 professionals from engineering and management campuses, plans to take the strength of its engineers in R&D department to 1,000 by April next from around 730 now. Drugmaker Lupin, having over 50% of its employees in India, plans to add up to 1,000 people, including medical representatives, R&D professionals, IP managers and clinical researchers, this financial year. “Healthcare not being a discretionary spends, the industry has largely been insulated from the economic slowdown,” pointed out Lupin Pharma president-HR, Divakar Kaza.

Showing signs of recovery in IT and financial sectors, Infosys and StanChart too is planning to hire thousands this year, the ET survey noted. HR consulting firm Manpower’s global quarterly employment outlook survey for July-September indicated that India is having the most optimistic employment outlook globally.

Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi, general manager of TeamLease, a staffing solutions firm stated, “There is a slow and steady upsurge in Hiring intent across sectors. The advent of new players and aggressive expansion of large telecom giants has added to the bullish outlook”. A TeamLease study indicated that the many companies are planning to hire almost doubled to 42% in the current quarter as against 22% during April-June. Earlier in the first quarter of 2009 hiring plans by companies had declined by 30% q-o-q and 10% in the second quarter.

The employment outlook is worked out as the difference in the proportion of respondents who report an increase in hiring needs and those who report a decline in hiring needs over the previous three months. The hiring plans show the movement of business outlook index that declined by 50% in the first quarter and 8% in the second quarter. As per TeamLease surveys for the current quarter, the business outlook is up to 24%.