IT witnesses highest ever job index in Sept

MUMBAI, INDIA: Though the worries about the financial slowdown is not yet over, there seems to be a steadiness in the hiring scenario, especially the IT sector, according to the Naukri Job Speak index.

Although, the index for September 2010 inched down marginally by 1.2 per cent from 956 in August 10 to 943, the three month moving average index indicates steady recruitment levels, Naukri said in a press release. On a year on year comparison the job index moved up by 22 per cent in September 10 as compared to the same time over a year ago. The IT sector moved up by 45 per cent from 718 in September 2009 to 1047 in September 2010.

“Hiring activity in the IT sector is back to the pre-recession levels. Key IT players in the country are acquiring multiple projects from India as well as overseas which has led to this boom,” said Hitesh Oberoi, CEO and MD, Info Edge, which owns Naukri.com. “Software professionals can hence look forward to a favourable hiring environment over the next few months.”

However, the ITES sector witnessed steep monthly declines of 15 per cent in September 2010 when compared with August 2010. Insurance sector dipped by 58 per cent during this period when compared with the same time a year ago. Compared with August 2010, the dip is 29 per cent.

“The dip in the insurance sector was anticipated as insurance firms have been groping for ways to reduce headcount, post IRDA regulations,” said Oberoi.

Most of the other core industry sectors like auto, construction, oil & gas and banking also registered dip in their indices within the range of 2 per cent to 5 per cent.

An in-depth analysis of the index shows that the IT sector has significantly ramped up recruitment activities with the job index steadily moving in a positive direction for the past three months thus touching the highest ever in September. A similar sentiment was echoed in the recently released Naukri Hiring Outlook Survey where in 78 per cent recruiters from the IT sector indicated that new jobs will be created in the second half of 2010.

The hottest skill sets for the month of September were software development and sales & business development where the index moved up by 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively in September-10 over August-10.

A look at the hiring trends of the top cities of the country show that Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai have seen steady hiring levels with their indices moving in a positive direction consecutively for the past two months.

The index for Kolkata and Bangalore moved up by 5 per cent and 4 per cent respectively in Sept-10 as compared to August 2010. On the contrary, Delhi and Pune witnessed a dip of 5 per cent and 2 per cent respectively in their indices in September over August 2010.