Hiring activity grows 9 per cent in March; likely to pick up further: Naukri.com

Hiring activity in the country grew by 9 per cent in March led mainly by banking and IT sectors, with the job market outlook looking bullish, says a report by online jobs portal Naukri.com. The Naukri Job Speak Index stood at 1,609 for last month, registering a 9 per cent increase in hiring activity over March 2014.

"We can expect the index to move further north as the mood is positive and there is sign of cautious optimism across sectors. In my view the year 2015-16 will bring cheer to job seekers across cities and industries," said Naukri.com Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer V Suresh.

The sectors which recorded the maximum year-on-year growth were Banking and Financial Services (BFSI) and Accounting and Finance.

Sectors like accounting and finance, IT, advertising/PR/ MR and oil and gas registered a y-o-y growth of 43 per cent, 27 per cent and 12 per cent respectively in the March 2015.

A functional area analysis shows that the demand for professionals in IT and consulting saw a y-o-y growth of 31 per cent and 27 per cent respectively in March 2015 as against March 2014.

The demand for professionals in Human Resources grew by 21 per cent in March 2015 over March 2014.

Banking/finance and accounts registered an y-o-y growth in hiring activity by 19 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

City-wise analysis shows that all metro cities registered an increase in hiring activity in March 2015 in comparison to the corresponding month of 2014. Pune led the pack with a y-o-y growth of 17 per cent in hiring activity in the March 2015, followed by Delhi and Mumbai. Chennai recorded a y-o-y increase of 6 per cent, and Kolkata witnessed a y-o-y growth of 3 per cent in March 2015 over March 2014.