India Inc still cautious on hiring; TeamLease

Amid rising optimism for the future of their businesses, India Inc still remains cautious about hiring in the January-March period, a survey by leading staffing firm TeamLease Services said.

According to the quarterly report, hiring sentiment saw a marginal improvement with the employment outlook index for the January to March quarter standing at 47 index points, one per cent higher than the previous quarter.

On the other hand, indicating bullish expectations for the future of their businesses, the net business outlook index has shown an increase of 41 index points for Jan-March period.

"Hiring sentiments have marginally improved this quarter, in line with the Industry's positive outlook. Our estimates show that there would be a leap of faith during this current quarter and trends will not just hold out, they will be bolder and result in higher employment gains," TeamLease Services Vice-President Rajesh AR said.

"That said, employers are cautious and are placing stronger emphasis on skill-gap and employability. It must be noted that the intention to hire is still weak this time around. The jitters have been shaken off, however, and the numbers are now likely to ramp up steadily," he added.

There has been a rise in employment outlook index points of all cities except Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

Moreover, there has been a rise in hiring outlook across most of the sectors, except financial services and pharma.

According to the TeamLease 'Quarterly Employment Outlook' report, increase in hiring intentions has been the maximum for infrastructure sector, while telecom saw the least.

The index points of most sectors are on the increase except telecom and pharma. The IT Enabled services sector increased the most (by 31 points).

Besides, among cities the employment outlook index points of Pune rose the most (by 50 points), while it dropped the most for Delhi (by 24 points).

In terms of outlook for their businesses, there has been an increase in all cities except Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad. The Business Outlook Index points of Pune increased the most by 63 points.

The report noted that there was a decrease in the intention to hire at all managerial levels, while there was an increase in intention to hire in marketing and customer service functions.

During the past three months as well as the last one year, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi had the highest attrition rates compared to other cities.

Ahmedabad had the lowest attrition rate in both last 3 months as well as in last 1 year, the survey added.