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Business News/ Industry / Infotech/  IT hiring in India to hit a new low in April-September period: Report
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IT hiring in India to hit a new low in April-September period: Report

IT hiring by Indian IT companies will fall 15 percentage points to 58% in April-September due to global slowdown, automation impact and scarcity of skilled workers

The survey conducted by jobs firm ManpowerGroup’s Experis IT reveals employers are increasingly hiring on demand, including on contract, and re-skilling internal staff to cater to complex and niche roles. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintPremium
The survey conducted by jobs firm ManpowerGroup’s Experis IT reveals employers are increasingly hiring on demand, including on contract, and re-skilling internal staff to cater to complex and niche roles. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

New Delhi: Only 58% of Indian IT companiers plan to hire in the April-September period, according to the Experis IT Employment Outlook Survey findings shared exclusively with Mint, a 15 percentage-point drop from the previous quarter.

The survey of 560 companies, conducted by Experis IT, a 100% subsidiary of staffing firm ManpowerGroup, shows that hiring across IT firms may be hit over the next two quarters due to an overall global slowdown, impact of automation and scarcity of the right talent with niche skills.

The survey reveals employers are increasingly hiring on demand, including on contract and up-skilling and re-skilling internal staff to cater to complex and niche roles. As many as 34% of IT companies surveyed will hire candidates in software development roles. Those in programming, digital media, cloud-based technology, CRM, CSI ADM (categorised as ‘others’ in the survey) can expect good hiring in the upcoming quarters with an employment outlook of 18%.

Twenty percent of respondents said demand for a combination of complex and niche IT skills will be the highest in the coming months. IT services companies reported the highest hiring intention at 22% in the next two quarters, followed by products (16%), startups (10%) and captive and e-commerce firms at 5% each.

Twenty four percent of the employers will hire in South India, followed by North and West India at 16% each, and East India at 2%.

Hiring might be limited largely to the mid-senior level, as 53% of survey respondents plan to hire candidates with work experience from 3-8 years, while 19% are looking at the junior level with up to three years work experience, while 2% plan to hire at the senior level, highlights the survey .

“India’s IT market will witness a dip due to the global slowdown coalesced with automation, in turn leading to talent scarcity for niche skills. The hiring outlook will be slow but steady for the Indian IT domain as the industry is in a wait and watch situation, gauging the effects of the macro-economic shifts," said Manmeet Singh, president, Experis IT–ManpowerGroup India.

Hiring intentions will be at an all-time low in the next two quarters as this finding resonates with that of the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey that reports the weakest forecast since the survey began in 2005.

India’s Net Employment Outlook has dipped for five consecutive quarters from 38% in April-June 2016 to 18% in April-June 2017, resulting in the weakest forecast since the survey (ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey) began in the third quarter of 2005.

“India is at the cusp of a digital transformation. With the advent of automation which is expected to impact majority of companies, employers in India state a sluggish hiring scenario," said A.G. Rao, Group Managing Director of ManpowerGroup India.

“Several companies are trying to reskill and retain existing employees, leading to a slowdown in external hiring at the entry level (0-5 years experience). We have not seen much decline in the mid-senior and senior level hiring," said Navnit Singh, chairman and regional managing director of Korn Ferry, a global organizational advisory firm.

“Several companies are trying to reskill and retain existing employees leading to a slowdown in external hiring at the entry level (zero to five years experience). We have not seen much decline in the mid-senior and senior level hiring," said Navnit Singh, chairman and regional managing director of Korn Ferry, global organizational advisory firm.

“As the industry looks at revitalising the strategy, Indian IT sector will be in a state of flux with hiring freeze and possible layoffs in the short term," said Vishalli Dongrie, partner and head at people and change advisory services, at consulting firm KPMG India.

“In today’s changing market scenario, given the shrinking profit margins and stricter visa requirements, IT/ITeS firms will need to rethink their recruitment and talent management strategies with a renewed focus on local hiring in countries such as US, UK, Australia etc," Dongrie added.

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Published: 24 Apr 2017, 08:37 PM IST
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