Indian firms to up hiring in October-December quarter: Survey

NEW DELHI - Indian companies are planning to add headcount to their payrolls in the quarter ending December, with education sector leading the way, according to a survey released Tuesday.

“Job seekers can remain excited about new job opportunities in India as India’s employers expect the hiring momentum to continue at a robust pace going into the fourth quarter,” said a survey by global human resource staffing firm Manpower Inc.

With a net employment outlook of 38 percent (seasonally adjusted data), India’s outlook declines by three percentage points quarter-over-quarter, but improves by eight percentage points when compared to fourth quarter of 2009.

Job aspirants in the education sector and public administration and the services sector can look forward to the most favourable hiring environment in the next three months of the year.

Meanwhile, the weakest - but still strong - hiring pace is reported by transportation and utilities and wholesale and retail trade sector employers.

About 5,395 employers across India participated in the survey.

“The job market remains robust in India as a result of strong domestic growth and recovery from key global markets. Once you combine strong domestic hiring along with improved international opportunities, we see one of the best scenarios that Indian job seekers could have imagined,” said Sanjay Pandit, managing director Manpower India.

Employers in three regions in reported an improved employment outlook with those in South India having the strongest hiring intentions, followed by the Noth, East and West.

The Manpower employment outlook, which is a quarterly global affair, also indicated that employers in 32 countries and territories are reporting stronger year-over-year outlooks, with those in China, Taiwan, India and Brazil indicating the strongest fourth-quarter job prospects.

Fourth-quarter hiring expectations remain mixed in the 18 countries surveyed in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Across the 10 countries surveyed in the Americas region, employers anticipate varying degrees of positive hiring activity.

Regional hiring plans are strongest in Brazil, Peru and Costa Rica and weakest in the U.S., where hiring plans are relatively stable from three months ago but are notably stronger than those reported one year ago.