India’s formal sector, India Inc., reported 12% year-on-year growth in talent demand in January 2022. The growth came amid the Omicron Covid-19 variant which caused restrictions and lockdowns in India. Economic recovery was in full swing accompanied by talent demand growth in all high volume industrial sectors, according to TimesJobs RecruiteX Index for January 2022. 

The Index showed that consumer-centric sectors led the talent demand growth with Retail noting the highest growth of 22% over the month and over 30% on an annual basis, in talent demand analysis in January 2022.

The Consumer Durables/FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) also reported growth with a 18% month-on-month and over 30% year-on-year increment in the talent demand analysis.

Here’s a sector-wise study of talent demand:

Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “The Indian economy is in a revival mode and talent demand trends are in-line with that. Seven out of the 11 top industrial sectors that we monitored saw a double-digit growth in month-on-month review of talent demand. The Retail sector registered 22% uptick, followed by the Automobiles (18%), Consumer Durables/FMCG (18%), Healthcare (16%) and Projects/Infrastructure (12%) sector in Jan’22 v/s Dec’21 study. The overall month-on-month talent demand growth stood at 6%, while year-on-year increment was 12%. The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has projected the country's economy to grow by 7.8% in 2022-23, and I’m confident that talent demand will continue to grow alongside, keeping the recruitment sentiment high.”

By functional area, talent demand for the Logistics profile grew from 1% in December 2021 to 20% in January 2022.

Top month-on-month gainers in functional area were: Logistics/Supply Chain Management: 20%, Engineering: 15%, Quality/Process Control: 12%, Marketing & Advertising: 8%, and Sales/Business Development: 5%.

India’s Silicon capital Bengaluru claimed the most talent demand in January 2022, gained 19 points, growing from 100 basis points in December 2021 to 119 in January 2022. This was followed by growth registered by Jaipur, increasing by 8 basis points (90 in December 2021 to 102 in January 2022).

Among the metro cities, Mumbai clocked the highest talent demand growth of 8% month-on-month in January 2022.

In January 2022, Indian Inc, posted most jobs for fresh graduates (0-5 years of experience) with 12% monthly increment, followed by the demand for mid-management level (5-10 years of experience). The demand for freshers has been consistently up since July 2021 barring a dip in November 2021.

Experience-wise top month-on-month gainers were: Freshers (0-5 years of experience): 12%, Mid-management level (5-10 years of experience): 10%, Mid-senior management level (10 - 20 years of experience): 6%, Senior professionals (20+ years and above): 5%, and 2 - 5 years of experience: 1%.