Hiring witnesses 13 percent increase in Dec’13 over Dec’12

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Naukri Job Speak Index for the month of December 2013 was at 1,296 showing a 13 percent increase in hiring activity when compared to December'12.

Monthly comparison shows no change in hiring activity when compared to November'13. Industry wise hiring sentiment was positive with sector like IT Software showing an increase of 33 percent Y-O-Y. Among the top metros, hiring momentum continued in Delhi and Hyderabad with the Naukri Job Speak Index moving up by 25 percent and 20 percent Y-O-Y, respectively.

Ambarish Raghuvanshi, Group president Finance and CFO Info Edge (India) Ltd, said: "The hiring landscape which is currently holding steady with a slightly positive bias in India is set to improve since bellwether sectors in India like IT and ITES have shown signs of growth with the Naukri job speak for IT growing at an average of 5% in the past three months which signals improvement in hiring activity. Since 2014 is an election year, we expect companies to go into an expansion mode either ahead of results or post elections and concomitantly we will see an uptick in hiring activities of companies here"

Industry sector analysis

An in depth analysis reveals that amid industries, the BPO sector has witnessed a double digit growth of 33 percent Y-O-Y. Other top performing sectors include Pharma and Telecom, which have seen a spike in hiring with the index moving up by 16 percent and 7 percent Y-O-Y, respectively.

The growth streak was also seen in Oil and Gas sector with the index moving up by 7 percent Y-O-Y. Among sectors observing a negative decline, Auto sector saw the maximum decline with the Naukri Job Speak Index moving down by 17 percent, respectively, however, the monthly comparison shows auto sector seeing a spike with the index moving up by 16 percent M-O-M.

Functional area analysis

The demand for professionals working in IT and BPO sector continued to grow with the index moving up by 33 percent and 31 percent in Dec'13 as compared to Dec'12.

Apart from that, professionals working in areas of Finance witnessed an increase in demand with the index moving up by 7 percent Y-O-Y. In terms of decline, professionals working in Banking and Insurance and Supply Chain witnessed a dip with the index moving down by 17 percent and 15 percent Y-O-Y, respectively. Engineering design and R&D also saw a decline with the index moving down by 14 percent Y-O-Y.

City-wise analysis

Among all metros, Delhi and Hyderabad witnessed the maximum improvement in hiring trends with 25 percent and 20 percent increase in Dec'13 over Dec'12, respectively. Bangalore and Kolkata also saw a double digit growth with the Naukri job speak index moving up by 18 percent and 13 percent Y-O-Y, respectively. Cities like Mumbai and Pune saw a miniscule growth in hiring with the Naukri Job Speak Index moving up by 1 percent Y-O-Y.

In terms of decline, Chennai was the only city amongst metros, which saw a dip with the index going down by 4 percent in Dec'13 as compared to Dec'12.