India Inc hiring sentiment favourable for Q1, FY14: Survey

Put of 4,431 employers covered in the survey, 67% predicted an increase in headcount for the first quarter

More job opportunities are likely to emerge in the next three months as over 60% of domestic employers are predicting an increase in their workforce, a survey has said.
    
The survey by MyHiringClub.Com covered 4,431 employers and a majority (67%) of them have predicted an increase in headcount for the first quarter of fiscal 2013-14.
    
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the outlook has improved marginally by one percentage point, but has picked up by 12 percentage points when compared with first quarter of 2012-13, the survey said.
    

"Current hiring sentiment is definitely better than Q1 and Q4 of FY13. Job creation in India continues amid talks of lay-offs and employee rationalisation," MyHiringClub.Com CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

    
Seven of the nine sectors surveyed have positive hiring prospects, with employment in the FMCG industry projected to be the most promising.
 
The report said the FMCG sector has a net employment outlook of 38% for the first quarter of FY'14, which is 21 percentage points higher than first quarter of FY13.
     
FMCG industry is followed by retail and IT and IT-enabled sector with an net employment outlook of 36% and 34% respectively.
     
The retail industry too, has witnessed a 20% improvement in hiring plans on a year-on-year basis.
     
Other sectors with a positive net employment outlook are banking and financial services (33%), telecom (31%), hospitality (30%), infrastructure (30%).

      
The weakest hiring outlook was seen in real estate (29%) and automobile and manufacturing (22%), the survey noted.
     
According to Kumar while employment opportunities in the coming quarter are good for FMCG and retail, employers in automobile industry is not keen to add more numbers to their current employees.
    
A region-wise study of employers in all four regions -- North, South, East and West -- predicted a strong employment market in the first quarter of FY'14, with the most optimistic forecast for the Southern parts of the country.
    
The net employment outlook for the South stood at 28% for the next three months, however this is 5% lower in comparison to the same period a year-ago.