Hiring activity takes off amid Covid slowdown

As the impact of Covid-`19 subsided during 2021-22, eight out of top 10 private companies by market capitalisation in India added a net number of over three lakh employees during the period, as per a report. 

Retail, IT services and banking witnessed the highest number of recruitments as companies stepped up their game following the Covid year in 2020-21, while tapping into Tier-2, Tier-3 and Tier-4 cities for a stronger workforce.

An analysis by The Indian Express of annual reports of top listed firms showed that these companies saw a slowdown of hiring and even a cut-down but in some cases, with a net addition of just over one lakh employees during 2020-21.

However, the pace set sail the next year as the economy saw a better position with easing of lockdowns.

Among the companies, Reliance Industries Ltd saw the most net addition of employees with 1.07 lakh in 2021-22, compared with 40,716 in the previous financial year, said the Indian Express report.

Reliance recruited the highest number of employees to its retail wing followed by telecom and tech vertical Jio.

The retail division saw a hiring of 1.69 employees. "Retail employs a young staff, typically in the twenties. With the reopening of the economy, multiple opportunities opened up for young employees, enabling them to explore new sectors and workforce models," said the company in its annual report of 2021-22.

Reliance Retail's hiring was much greater than that of Avenue Supermarts, its next-in-line competitor in retail, which saw a hiring of 5,045 people in 2021-22, compared with a net reduction of 1,364 during the year-ago period.

In case of information technology and software services companies, a pace-up in hiring was also seen during this period. 

TCS, India's largest software company, reported a net hiring of 1.04 lakh in 2021-22, compared with 40,185 a year ago. 

On the other hand, Infosys reported a net addition of 54,396 in the year-ended March 31, 2022 as opposed to 17,248 during the previous fiscal.

Banks and airlines also stepped up their recruitments in 2021-22 after a slowdown in the pace during the Covid year.

As per an employment  report by TeamLease, companies are expected to boost their hiring drives.

It added that the intent to hire has increased to 61 per cent for the ongoing July-September quarter, from 34 per cent in April-June quarter of 2021-22.