Corporate India bullish on hiring: HR survey

A quarter of all Indian companies plan to hire in October-December , up from one in five who said they will recruit in the three months adding up to October, says a survey by HR consulting firm Manpower that points to perceptions across corporate board rooms that the slowdown has bottomed out and brighter times are just around the corner.

The survey conducted among more than 5,600 companies across 30 cities shows that the government’s booster packages to lift the economy, especially the infrastructure industries, are bearing fruit, said Manpower India MD Naresh Malhan.

A key index used for the survey, the net employment outlook (NEO), represents the percentage of companies anticipating total employment to go up against those who expect it to decline. In the latest study, wholesale retail & trade shone the brightest with a NEO of 34% while and public administration & education came close with 32%.

“With customers coming back to malls, we can say that the lull in the retail segment seems to be getting over now,” said Kishore Biyani, whose Future Group that operates retail chains such as Big Bazaar, Central, Pantaloon and Home Town stores, which will together add 2,000 people over the next one quarter.

Sectors such as construction & mining, finance , insurance & real estate, manufacturing and services have also shown improvement in hiring intentions compared to the last survey.

Transportation & utilities, which have been a laggard for four years now in Manpower surveys , came a predictable last in terms of hiring intentions with a NEO of 16%.

Within India, employers in the eastern and southern regions reported the strongest hiring outlook with NEO of 25%. Companies in the western and northern regions had NEO of 20% and 23% respectively, but showed improvement compared to the previous quarter. In contrast, the southern region of the country reported the weakest outlook by this region since the survey first began.

India also continued to be most optimistic in terms of hiring outlook internationally , having topped the global survey covering 35 countries with 25% NEO for the coming quarter. Brazil, which was included in the survey for the first time, straight away took the second spot behind India with NEO of 21%. “The strong job prospects in Brazil are being reported because of services sector, where 37% of employers expect to add employees in the next three months,” the Manpower survey said.