Indian IT hiring picks up despite global downturn
More than one survey point to an IT recovery – a positive trend that comes after a long-drawn slowdown in recruiting activities
Despite the distinct possibilities of a global recession looming in the horizon, there’s something to wrap up the year on a positive note. It appears that India Inc. is gradually recovering lost ground after all. Hiring and career management portalfoundit.in – the rebranded avatar of the former recruitment platformMonster.com – has reported that Indian IT industry has shown a month-on-month 3% upward swing injob demands. This finding, along with others has been published by founditin itsNovember 2022job trends report.
Hope shinesbright despite a bleak 2022
This positive trend comes after a long-drawn slowdown in recruiting activities. And although the findings reveal a 6% increase in overall month-on-month hiring for freshers, yearlyfreshers hiring still show a decline by 3%.That is not surprising, given the general downward tendency that the job market has displayed throughout 2022. In theRazorpayX Payroll Annual Insights Report published just over a month ago, the effects of a post-pandemic scenario combined with an increasingly volatile geopolitical situation, were evident. It revealed how cash-strapped start-ups are cutting-back on CXO hirings, while offeringhikes and pay-outs to existing employees in an attempt to retain the best talent.
However, that same The RazorpayX Payroll report has also confirmed a general drift emerging in the Indian job market. It found that while recruitments have steadily fallen across functions over the last one year, hiring in technology seems to have been impacted the least. On the contrary, technology-related hiring actually increased – although marginally – by 4% in the face of a generally slowdown in recruitments. It looks like tech jobs will continue to drive the start-up job market.
Wider talent pool, higher onboarding package
Another positive trait noted in the foundit report is an increased rate of hiring in Tier-2 Indian cities. As infrastructure is improving fast and online connectivity is near-total across the country, the Tier-2 cities are making most of the situation. Chandigarh showed increased month-on-month hiring activities by 8%, Baroda by +5%, and Ahmedabad by +3%.
The foundit report also notes thatthe Indian IT sector offers the highest onboarding salary to freshers–based on job postings on the founditportal.Average annual packages for IT freshers vary between INR3,44,922 and INR 6,71,236. The two other sectors that come close in terms of freshers’ salaries are Logistics (INR 311,474 – INR 5,76,252) and Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI: INR 3,06,102 – INR 5,43,020).
Indian IT holds its ground
Experts observe thatthe pandemic has provided a general boost to digitisation efforts across industries – and this has pushed tech recruitments up several times, even in the face of a global downturn. Two ideal examples are the healthcare and education sectors. Theseare now aggressively taking recourse to technology for moreefficient outcomes. Such a thrust towards technology can only bring more good news for the tech fraternity.
This sentiment is echoed in another recent survey report – this one by staffing and recruitment services firm Randstad.Based on a survey of 600 tech companies, this report predicts that bucking the global trend of growing layoffs, tech firms in India are likely to pick up their hiring in 2023. This would be driven by India’s stable geographical, economic and political foundation, opined the report.
According to Randstad, 7 out of 10 IT companies in India are expected to increase their headcount in the first quarter of 2023. Some industry leaders even specified that areas like fullstack developers, infrastructure specialists, AI, IoT and UI/UX designwould be in focus throughout the coming year.
