India's IT Business Process Management industry may see a rise in contract staff, as companies look to deploy talent quickly for short term projects, reports the Economic Times, citing industry trackers. The IT Business Process Management sector is likely to add an estimated 24,900 employees on contract this fiscal year, compared to a little more than 10,000 such staff last year. Of the 4.41 million employees in the IT-BPM industry, the number of contract hires stood at 111,975 last year, according to data from staffing and research firm Han Digital. This year, the number is expected to increase to 136,962 out of an estimated total workforce of 4.59 million in the industry. Saran Balasundaram, CEO of Han Digital said, ““Employers are benefiting as contract staff can be deployed within a few weeks. At the same time, many organisations are looking at headcount optimisation and do not want to increase their workforce.” Mehul Shah, executive board member, Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) added that there is huge demand for people with skills in emerging technologies which has led to an increase in contract staffing, adding that contract staffing is going to increase, especially for digital technology skills.