66 percent Indian firms to recruit

Bangalore: No more gloomy days for job prospects in India as the firms are on a hiring spree. As per a survey, the hiring outlook for the next three months also looks promising, with as many as 66 percent Indian companies expecting to recruit.

The survey conducted by the global recruitment firm Antal International has revealed that companies in India hiring professionals and managers have rebounded to 51 percent currently against the dramatic fall to 29 percent at the beginning of 2009. Even the job cuts are expected to drop to 21 percent over the next quarter. "After a substantial dip in hiring levels at the start of 2009, confidence seems to have returned to the Indian job market in a dramatic fashion. Two thirds of the businesses we spoke to are already in the process of hiring for the next quarter," Antal International India Managing Partner Joseph Devasia said.

The quarter saw better days as the number of companies hiring in India were 30 percent more than the ones laying off. As per another survey conducted by Economic Times, as many as 200 companies ended the financial year with more staff as against 150 which saw a decline in the number of employees. SBI, the largest recruiter after IT firm TCS, was much more aggressive in hiring than Wipro and Infosys. Wipro and Infosys together added 28,049 employees, just about five percent more than SBI alone. Although SBI chairman OP Bhatt could not be contacted for comments for this story, he had earlier made a public statement that the bank is going to recruit 20,000 people this fiscal.