India Inc's hiring plans may pick up in coming months: experts

Corporate India's hiring plans are expected to witness a pick-up in the coming months as companies will not only hire for their core business areas but also for positions that were on hold due to weak economic sentiments, experts have said.

Recent initiatives by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to stabilise the rupee seems to have improved market sentiment and created a sense that better times are ahead. Investors and entrepreneurs have welcomed the moves.

"If the positive sentiment ultimately turns into a positive economic cycle, recruitments in coming months and quarters may also get a push due to investments and expansion plans," said Premlesh Machama, managing director of CareerBuilder India.

On account of rupee depreciation, exports from IT and some other sectors have become highly competitive, growing about 12 per cent in July. The trend is expected to get stronger, the experts said.

"Even though the worst is not over yet, one can see the light at the end of the tunnel," said Bhupender Mehta, CEO of ChangeYourBoss.com.

"Hopefully, the worst will be behind us soon and the market will start looking up in the second half of this year," said Hitesh Oberoi, CEO and managing director of Info Edge (India), owner of job portal Naukri.com.

Meanwhile, the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey also paints a bullish picture. According to the survey, India has emerged as the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans for the next three months after four consecutive quarters of relatively lacklustre forecasts.

The dramatic turnaround in employer confidence was mainly due to the recovery made by IT firms and allied companies.

"The future demands in the IT sector for skills would include Web analytics, design skills, IT languages, sector knowledge, understanding on security issues, database management and analysis skills," said A G Rao, managing director of ManpowerGroup India Group.

There is an influx of jobs available in the e-commerce space purely due to the current market trends. Mr Mehta further said that India, for instance, is emerging as a new yet a strong name in e-commerce industry based on the acceptance as well as ever-increasing demand of e-commerce as a concept.