Demand for staff increased by 18% in March 2015, compared with the same month last year, according to the latest RecruiteX report from Indian job board TimesJobs.com. However, compared with the previous month, demand for staff decreased by 4%.

On an annual basis, India’s IT and Telecoms sectors reported a 31% increase in demand for talent; with the Petrochemical, Oil & Gas, Power, Travel & Hospitality sectors all reported increases in demand of between 16% and 19%.

Vivek Madhukar, COO of TimesJobs.com, commented: “The growth of [the] Indian economy has fuelled [multi-national corporate] interest in India, resulting in rising demand for professionals with experience in Indian contexts.”

“Further, the trend of tech professionals from large organisations making a move to join start-ups as the top bosses is further pushing up attrition and demand for skilled professionals. This trend is expected to continue in the coming quarter,” he added.  

Demand for experienced professionals with between 10 and 20 years’ experience increased by 26% compared with last year, indicating that 2015 will herald the return of demand for mid-level managers. Senior professionals with over 20 years’ experience reported an 18% increase in demand.

Month-on-month, however, the staffing market slowed, reporting a 4% decrease in the demand for talent. This follows a monthly decrease of 1% in February, compared with January 2015.

During March every industry included in the RecruiteX report recorded a decrease in demand compared with February.

The sharpest decline was reported in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector, which recorded a month-on-month drop of 7%. This was followed by a 6% decrease in demand for both Healthcare talent and Logistics & Warehousing staff.

In terms of recruitment by location, the city of Bengaluru reported the sharpest decrease in demand for talent, with a drop of 11% compared with February. The strongest increase was reported in Jaipur, which saw demand increase 16%, month-on-month. 

For candidates, those with less than two years’ experience were the only group to report an increase in demand (5%) between February and March. The strongest decrease in demand was for those with more than 20 years’ experience, who recorded a 10% drop in demand.

To read the full report, click here.