Hiring in India in 2023 – Where does India Inc. stand?

The post-pandemic hiring frenzy has been stemmed by the global economic slowdown. World-over, big tech companies have laid off thousands of employees, and introduced cost-cutting measures in a bid to brace up to financially challenging times.The beginning of 2023 has seen several layoffs across the tech sector globally, spanning across industry behemoths to startups. This has been spurred by the looming fear of recession, inflation and rising interest rates, and overstaffing. In India too, the global shakeup has led to retrenchment in the tech sector, but the overall outlook appears to be positive. While the big tech sector has seen a hiring slowdown and layoffs, the non-IT sectors are not significantly impacted as of now, and present a mixed bag. Let’s take a look at the hiring trends in India for 2023.

Hiring in 2023 in India

While hiring showed an upward trajectory in 2022, an uncertain economic environment and geopolitical challenges, combined with looming fears of recession in the West caused a slowdown in hiring towards the end of 2022. A hiring study commissioned by the Times of India found that 44% of employers think that global macroeconomic challenges will influence hiring in India. Companies in the technology sector, edtech space and even several start-ups including unicorns have been laying off staff in unprecedented large numbers. There are several reasons for this. According to industry experts, apart from the economic climate, overhiring in the tech industry during the pandemic has led to overstaffing and redundancy. Companies find the need to trim the workforce to an optimum number. US markets present a significant source of revenue for the technology companies  in India, and the global economic slowdown is bound to impact earnings for this sector, requiring companies to implement hiring freezes or slow-down talent acquisition. Campus placements and entry-level IT jobs have taken a hit too, as tech companies cut back on hiring.

On the other hand, other sectors such as Insurance, Hospitality, Banking, and Oil & Gas have shown an upswing in hiring, while pharma, retail, and telecom have demonstrated caution. In particular, the Banking and Financial Services Industry (BFSI) is expected to lead the pack and account for nearly 30% of hiring. This sector has undergone accelerated digital transformation during the pandemic, and led the economic recovery, creating a surge in demand for new talent within the industry and for its partners. Banks, new-age fintechs and insurance companies have new business models, and are seeking to provide seamless customer experience to digitally-savvy consumers. This has caused an increase in demand for both technical and conventional roles in these institutions. Apart from the financial sector, healthcare, real estate and construction has seen significant hiring growth. 

And, there is light at the end of the tech hiring tunnel too. According to a Naukri JobSpeak study, hiring is beginning to show a slow upward ascent in the Indian IT industry, with a 10% increase in hiring rates in February 2023. The study also found that there is an increased demand for specialised technical roles such as cloud administrators, big data specialists, analytics managers, amongst other such roles. India is bucking the global hiring trend for several reasons. Projections indicate a strong GDP growth for India’s economy resulting in increased investor confidence. A stable and strong political, economic, and geographic environment encourages organisations to invest in the country, leading to increased job opportunities. Impetus is also derived from a strong push towards manufacturing for self-reliance with ‘Make in India’, which is driving the growth of engineering and manufacturing industries. 

Even though companies need to optimise the workforce, there is a need to acquire talent to bridge the skill gap. This can be done by upskilling existing employees or using flexible staffing solutions for short-term engagements. Careernet’s professional staffing solutions provide a ready and specialised talent pool  of contract-to-hire and gig workers that enable organisations to scale up and down swiftly, based on project requirements. While the overall feeling is one of positivity, India Inc is cautiously optimistic about hiring, and working towards keeping themselves lean and agile by optimising the workforce, implementing cost cutting measures, and hiring based on need.