Indian cos plan aggressive hiring over next 3 months

Staffing services firm Manpower's Employment Outlook Survey released today showed that employers in India have the strongest hiring intentions for the 2011 second quarter.

India's net employment outlook -- an indicator of recruitment intentions -- rose to 51 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the three-month period starting April. The same stood at just 43 per cent for the first three months of this year.

"Employers (in India) from manufacturing, finance, insurance, real estate, public administration and education and wholesale and retail trade report strongest hiring plans to date," Manpower said.

The manufacturing sector leads the way with a hiring outlook of 56 per cent, followed by finance, insurance and real estate (55 per cent).

"This is the highest employment forecast since we started the survey in 2005 and is higher than witnessed in the pre-crisis period," Manpower India Head (Sales & Marketing) Namr Kishore told PTI.

India is benefiting from the global economic recovery, especially in the US. Overall demand has gone up resulting in robust hiring trends, Kishore noted.

In the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008-09, many firms had resorted to massive layoffs to cut down costs.

The findings are based on a survey of 5,112 employers across the country. According to the report, employers in the South have the strongest hiring expectations, reflected in a net employment outlook of 58 per cent. It is followed by North (54 per cent). East (53 per cent) and West (43 per cent).

Meanwhile, Manpower's survey -- which also covered 38 other countries -- revealed that employers in India, Taiwan, Brazil, China, and Turkey have the strongest second-quarter hiring expectations.

European countries, which have been rattled by the sovereign debt turmoil, particularly Greece, Spain and Ireland, as well as Italy, recorded "the weakest forecasts globally", it added.