Hiring activity in India more than doubled (108%) in July 2021 when compared to July 2020, indicating that businesses were more prepared and recovered faster from the effect of the second Covid-19 wave when compared to their response to the first wave in 2020, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak report.

Year-on-year hiring in the IT-Software sector grew by 212% in July 2021 vs. July 2020. Sectors such as Retail (+157%) and Hospitality/Travel (+118%) which were most impacted during the first Covid-19 wave, also witnessed significant year-on-year growth in July’21.

Hiring activity also jumped in the Insurance (+94%), Education/Teaching (+90%), Telecom/ISP (Internet service provider) (+75%) and Banking/Finance (+70%) sectors as compared to July 2020.

Within metro cities, year-on-year hiring was once again led by IT hubs including Bengaluru (+202%), Hyderabad (+193%), Pune (+186%) and Chennai (+146%).

Professionals in the HR/Admin (+224%), IT-Software (+192%) and Travel/Airlines (+116%) sectors saw the highest demand in July 2021, whereas Banking/Insurance (+84%) and Accounts/Finance (+78%) professionals were also much in demand.

Hiring in the 8-12 years (+122%) and 4-7 years (+114%) experience bands witnessed the highest hiring activity in July 2021 vs. July 2020.

Meanwhile, the Naukri index grew by 11% in July 2021 vs. June 2021, to reach2,625, the highest it has ever been, including the pre-Covid timeline. The Indian job market also saw a sequential growth for the second month in a row, with a 15% rise in June 2021, after a pandemic-linked decline in April and May 2021.