The positive sentiments of growth and development and change in job outlook has been charting at the top ever since the unprecedented mandate to the Modi government in the parliamentary elections of 2014. The business friendly measures and ease of working has percolated to the job market with positive and increased hiring estimates across the industries. Whether it is the ‘make in India campaign’, focus on skills development of youth, reducing inflation numbers, or buzz around rate cuts by the apex bank, India growth story is here to strengthen further.

In order to complement the rising potentials, it is important to improve the delivery. India needs not only skilled manpower to drive the growth but also competent and committed business managers and leaders including the top management in every sector with domain knowledge and expertise to leverage available channels of stakeholder management and bring ways to harness the power of technology to facilitate business goals. Development of human resources and knowledge capital is the key while budgeting for growth. Human resources are required to engage in continuous research and development and also monitor the quality and infrastructure, thereby increasing the productivity vis-à-vis investments.

Though India is a two trillion economy, according to a recent report by United Nations, approximately 30 crore Indians still live in extreme poverty. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls for a top speed reform to make India a $ 20 trillion economy. India’s GDP growth target for 2014-15 is 7.5%. The International Monetary Fund says India will grow at 7.6% and surpass China. The economic survey 2012-13 found the total employment in the country grew by just 1.6% per year from 1999-2000 to 2009-10 in spite of growth boom. It cannot be debated that for sustainable growth fundamentals, it is important to have right human resources at right place and at the right time frame.  

At The HR Fund, we expect the budget to have a positive effect on the human resource solution (HR) industry, which manages not only the matchmaking of talent with jobs available but also has started contributing significantly towards the entire talent management processes with innovative technology in a compliant and secure environment. The industry works hand in hand with the companies and provides customized solution to boost growth and increase quality of life at workplace. This goes without saying that the various HR functions increases the employees’ experience, motivation, and productivity, besides saving key time and money resources for the company. 

Utkarsh Joshi, principal, The HR Fund, a private investment company, with dedicated focus on the HR segment, said, “The budget is expected to be pro-business and should lead to an upswing in hiring across multiple industry sectors. This would strengthen the already positive hiring sentiments across industries as several estimates and job outlook reports suggest a strong increase in hiring over last year.” 

With the government’s ‘Make in India’ drive, the manufacturing sector is estimated to see a strong demand for manpower to achieve competitive advantages. Other sectors like BFSI, aviation, retail, e-commerce, and IT/ITES should also see introduction/extension of business friendly policies leading to increased hiring. Explaining the HR solution industry ecosystem, Utkarsh said, “Increased hiring will translate into increased demand for talent acquisition and talent management products and services in India. The recruitment pass-through revenue will go up and the increase in employee numbers will push up expenditure for human resource management services (HRMS).” Additionally, besides increase in HR outsourcing, products and services for management/retention of the best talent would be adopted among other things, leading to robust growth of the HR industry, added Utkarsh.

Announcements around skill development and labor norms are expected as well. Apart from strengthening the workforce, positive measures in these areas would further open up the industry with an increased number of players in skilling and compliance sub–domains.

This environment would help start-ups in HR segment flourish with niche product and service lines and would require to remain competitive with a structured growth plan including timely expansion, investments, and research and development, among other business measures.