Hiring activity in India grew by 43% in October 2021 when compared to October 2020, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak Index.

The job market in India has also surpassed pre-pandemic levels, showcasing a 19% uptick vs Oct 2019.

IT, which saw 85% year-on-year growth leads hiring among sectors followed by Telecom/ISP (84%) and Retail (51%).

The upcoming launch of 5G and related services coupled with the government’s product linked incentive scheme (PLI) and the recent relief package for players in the field has boosted employment opportunities in the Telecom/ISP sector that grew by 84% in October 2021.

Meanwhile, the ongoing holiday season, opening up of major offline outlets and peak sale season for e-commerce retailers led to the increase in Retail hiring as well as Hospitality/Travel (48%).

The Index noted that growth of the IT-Software/Software Services sector has enabled metro cities to outperform their tier two  counterparts in the annual growth charts.

The average year-on-year growth recorded in metro cities was 59% whereas non-metros grew at a slower pace of 30%.

Bengaluru (+84%), Hyderabad (+80%), Pune (+69%) and Chennai (+57%) recorded the highest annual growth in Oct 2021.

Among the non-metros, Ahmedabad (+72%) saw the highest growth in October 2021 followed by Coimbatore (+37%), Jaipur (+31%), Vadodara (+17%) and Chandigarh (+17%).

Hiring across all experience bands was reported growth in October 2021 compared to Oct 2020 with demand for senior professionals belonging to the 8-12 yrs (55%) bracket reporting the highest growth. 

Demand was also high for professionals in the 0-3 years (+36%), 4-7 years (+45%), 13-16 years (+36%,) and above 16 years (+30%) brackets.

The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index that calculates and records hiring activity based on the job listings on Naukri.com website.