More than half, or 51%, of recruiters in India indicated both new and replacement hiring in their organisations, according to a report from Naukri.

The report showed that appetite for hiring is up, as 32% of recruiters confirmed they would be hiring for new jobs.

Naukri’s Hiring Outlook is a bi-annual survey that represents recruiters' hiring outlook for the next six months.

Meanwhile, 5% of recruiters indicated that hiring was on hold compared to 11% in a similar survey conducted in September last year.

Over the past year, job security has faced risks across multiple sectors given the economic fallout of the pandemic.

“However, layoffs are becoming a thing of the past, with just 1% of recruiters indicating layoffs in their organisation compared to 36% in the earlier survey," Naukri said.

Almost 40% of recruiters expect hiring to go back to pre-pandemic levels in the next three months, in contrast to the sentiment in an earlier survey where only 20% of recruiters expected hiring to return to normalcy within three months.

With the push to digital, IT roles remain the most in demand, with 50% of recruiters indicating strong hiring in this segment. Roles in marketing and business development are also gaining traction with almost 38% recruiters expressing intent to hire for these roles. Recruiters expect to hire the most in the experience bracket of 3-5 years, Naukri found.

Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri.com, said, “Hiring outlook showcases an upbeat sentiment amongst the recruiters and consultants. In fact, employers are also positive about extending increments to their employees. This is a strong indicator that businesses are moving towards actioning their growth plans and not just survival or business continuity strategies. With digitisation being the key priority across companies, it is encouraging to see the IT sector lead hiring in the coming months.”

The survey also showed that 27% of recruiters plan to roll out pay rises greater than 15% in their respective organisations, while the average pay rise size is 5%-10%.

One-third of recruiters expect the employee turnover rate to be in the range of 10%-20%, while another 7% foresee turnover levels greater than 20%. The bulk of this is expected from employees with 1-5 years of experience. Given a surge in demand, IT roles can also witness employee turnover, Naukri added.

Naukri’s data also showed that campus hiring is showing steady improvement as one-third of recruiters give a green signal to their hiring plans versus 24% in the September 2020 Naukri survey.