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It is just a week since Narendra Modi has taken over as prime minister and hiring sentiments have started showing a positive trend. Human resource consultants said companies that were waiting till the elections would now begin to hire.
Sunil Goel, director, GlobalHunt, said there had been a positive impact of the new government, since it was expected that several stalled projects would take off. "Though it may take one or two months for the projects to start, this will result in hiring picking up."
Experts also believe that sectors that had reduced hiring would resume immediately. Prasanth Nair, managing partner and country head of InHelm Leadership Solutions, an HR firm specialising in executive search and consulting, said these included infrastructure, manufacturing, financial services, capital goods and raw materials, and oil and gas.
“Seen in the context where the average salary increases this year were among the lowest of the last few years, this will lead to retention challenges in many of the above-mentioned sectors, especially among well-established firms which might become the ‘catchment area’. We will quickly see the market being converted to an ‘employee’ driven market rather than an ‘employer’ driven market; which, in turn, will lead to wage increases,” said Nair.
Entrepreneurship and skill development has been carved out as a separate segment by the Modi government. This, according to HR consultants, would create additional opportunities. Moorthy K Uppaluri, CEO, Randstad India, said this signalled the focus on fundamental growth drivers and would build confidence among companies, investors and the workforce. If executed properly, this move will eventually see a rise in the creation of new businesses and improve the quality of human resources in the long term.
"Also, since most entrepreneurial ventures will invest for growth in the initial stages, it will lead to more job creation and contribute to India’s attractive long tail of small and medium businesses," said Uppaluri.
While there may not be growth in the economy overnight, hiring sentiments are expected to move up his quarter. Kamal Karanth, MD, Kelly Services India, said in the short term, the services Industry would see the lift, and all sectors related to consumption like retail, hospitality, e-commerce, banking and aviation would see a pick up. He said infotech was already on the upswing at lateral hiring levels.
"GDP recovery takes time and is mostly incremental across the world. We can expect quarter to quarter movement. The sectors related to consumption and services will see incremental hiring revival in the next six months not exceeding 15-20 per cent, "said Karanth.
