Hiring activity in India up by 24% in September — pharma, education and IT sector among the major drivers

Driven by industries like pharma, fast-moving consumer goods, education and IT, hiring activity in India saw a growth of 24 per cent in September compared to the previous month, according to a new report by job portal Naukri on Monday.

Further opening up of the economy with unlock measures and increased mobility has led to an improvement in hiring activities in industries like real estate, auto/ancillary and hospitality/travel versus August, revealed the Naukri JobSpeak Index for September.

Key industries such as business process outsourcing (BPO)/IT enabled Services (ITeS) and banking and financial services continue to post robust growth sequentially, said the report.

"While the hiring is yet to touch last year levels and is down by 23% in Sept'20 versus Sept'19 but this is also a marked recovery from a 35%-60% decline that we have witnessed in the last few months," Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com, said in a statement.

"Businesses that are leveraging digital channels for dissemination and consumption of goods and services are thriving and will continue to do so as we imbibe social distancing norms in our daily lives."

Metros which were reeling under various lockdown measures earlier have posted strong double-digit growth in the month of September Vs August with Pune leading the pack followed by Hyderabad and Chennai, while Bangalore is lagging with a 14 per cent growth.

Tier-2 cities like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Jaipur have also seen a significant uptick in the hiring activities, according to Naukri.

Hiring grew across the board in terms of experience bands with the demand for mid-management professionals (8-12 years) up by 27 per cent versus August followed by 0-3 years' experience (25 per cent), 4-7 years' experience (23 per cent), 13-16 years' experience (24 per cent) and more than 16 years' experience by 19 per cent.

"With increased mobility and focus on health, we are hopeful that hiring activity will further improve in sectors like Travel, Hospitality, Medical/ Healthcare, Insurance and Financial services," Goyal said.

The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly index that calculates and records hiring activity based on the job listings on Naukri.com website month on month.