When temp hiring becomes an increasingly permanent fixture in Indian companies

India’s job market is witnessing a significant shift as companies scale up contract hiring across the hierarchy—beyond the usual festive-season recruitment—as they beef up staffing to take on new projects and control their employee costs.

According to staffing experts Mint spoke with, contract hiring is expected to increase by 20% over the next few months, creating 600,000-700,000 jobs across the organized sector. 

This demand for workers on contract for 6 months to a year comes at a time when project visibility is low amid uncertain global economic conditions and wars, making companies reluctant to hire employees at high pay scales.

Technology companies and global capability centres—or GCCs, the India-housed tech units of multinational firms—are also signing up for temporary manpower, although they were not keen on contract workforce in large numbers earlier. 

“The macro visibility is poor and our IT and GCC clients now want contract workforce,” said Anshuman Das, chief executive and co-founder of Careernet, a talent solutions provider. “The notice periods of contract workforce are often of few weeks versus 2-3 months of permanent employees, and they can be recruited immediately.” 

GCCs scouting for employees in the initial stages of setting up base in India may prefer contract employees over permanent manpower, Das said. As for technology firms, several have used up their staff to almost full capacity and may need additional manpower quickly.

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