Three IT firms, five private banks led hiring in FY21: CARE Ratings

Three IT companies-- Infosys, TCS and Wipro, and five private banks-- HDFC Bank, Bandhan Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, and AU Small Finance Bank, accounted for the majority of hirings done by listed companies in FY2020-21. Had it not been for these companies, the overall jobs hiring by listed companies would have witnessed a steep decline. Out of the 423 companies that have published their annual reports so far, there was a minor rise in hirings by 1.6 per cent in FY2020-21 versus 4.5 per cent in FY2019-20, as per the latest CARE Ratings report on employment.

"While it is lower, prima facie, the number gives a positive signal on employment. In terms of the net increase in employment, it was just 56,054. This was with an increase of 1.08 lakh jobs in the 11 industry groups and a decrease of 52,813 in the other 18 sectors," the report stated. Out of the 1.08 lakh jobs added, 69 per cent came from the information technology sector, 13.5 per cent from the banking sector, and 12 per cent from healthcare.

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Sectors that led job creation were IT (information technology), healthcare and banks. Infosys, TCS and Wipro created almost 70,000 jobs whereas HDFC Bank, Bandhan Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, and AU Small Finance Bank added nearly 24,000 jobs.

While banks hired in huge numbers in the absolute terms, healthcare (7.4 per cent), IT (6.8 per cent), logistics (2.7 per cent), and chemicals (2.1 per cent) emerged as top sectors in terms of the growth rate. Biggest losers in employment due to COVID-19 pandemic during FY21 includes sectors like hospitality (-14.4 per cent), trading (-12.3 per cent), crude oil (-10.5 per cent), and retailing (-10.4 per cent).

"In 2020-21, 235 of these companies, which is around 56% of the sample had witnessed a decrease in headcount with the job loss being 1, 03,208. 175 companies that added to the headcount by 1, 59,262 thus leading to a net increase of 56,054. The top companies added 1.12 lakh jobs, thus heavily tilting the scale," the report noted.

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