The rise of data, digitization, and automation have caused an irreversible transformation in the way companies have adapted during the post-pandemic era. This is illustrated by the fact that hiring in the IT-Software/Software services industry registered a record growth of +33% in Feb’21 Vs Jan’21 because of the increased adoption of digital technologies in India. 

At an overall level, the Naukri JobSpeak Index for Feb’21, at 2,356, witnessed an uptick of +22% in hiring activity as compared to Jan’21 at 1,925. In addition, at a Y-O-Y level, the overall hiring remains flat at -2%.

Naukri JobSpeak Index (M-O-M)

With the country going back to normalcy, the majority of the industries saw a positive sequential uptick in recruitment activities for the first time after the COVID-19 outbreak. The Telecom sector has registered a sequential jump of +24% in Feb’21. Other key sectors such as Medical/Healthcare (+28%), Education/Teaching (+25%), FMCG (+20%), and BFSI (+17%) too have shown growth in M-O-M hiring in Feb’21 while the Insurance sector saw a flat (-1%) hiring trend.

Region-wise growth 

All six metros and key tier-2 cities witnessed positive hiring activities in Feb’21 Vs Jan’21. Hiring in metros showed double-digit growth led by Bangalore (+31%), Hyderabad (+28%), and Pune (+24%). Tier-2 cities such as Ahmedabad (+31%) and Vadodara (+20%) also grew in Feb’21 sequentially. 

With the opening of schools and colleges/universities, demand for professionals in Teaching/Education (+49%) has shot up in Feb’21 Vs Jan’21. Job roles in IT-Software (+31%), HR/Recruitment (+28%), and Travel/Ticketing (+27%) domains also see an increase in hiring sequentially.  Hiring across experience bands saw an average increase of +23% with 8-12 years band being at the top of the table with 27% M-O-M increase in hiring activities. 

Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, “Record growth in sequential hiring of +33% and a significant Y-O-Y growth of +12% in the IT sector indicates that the wave of digital transformation will make India the epicenter of the next tech boom. Around 88% IT recruiters have confirmed that new jobs will be created in the coming few months as per the latest Naukri Hiring Outlook survey, further confirming that the wave of digitization will spread rapidly.”

Though compared with the last year, hiring activity in the month of Feb’21 remained flat at (-2%) vs last year, key industries such as IT-Software (+12%), Real Estate (+6%) and Medical/Healthcare (+3%) were least impacted at a Y-O-Y level while Hospitality/Travel continues to be the most impacted with 51% decline in hiring. Other industries such as Oil/Gas (-47%), Retail (-32%), and Auto/ Auto Ancillary (-22%) attributed to the overall decline in hiring trends. Overall, as the data shows, digitization will continue to have a positive effect on the IT industry going forward this year.