The second half of this financial year is expected to see an uptick in hiring across industries, banking on favourable government policies that drove employment and conducive economic growth, according to TeamLease’s employment outlook report.As per the survey, which included 1,820 companies across 14 cities, about 79% of the employers plan to maintain or increase their workforce in October-March period of FY24. The report has attributed the upswing to various government initiatives such as the Atmanirbhar Bharat package, PLI schemes, Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti programme and the employment generation schemes.

The consumer and retail sector is likely to see a resurgence in Q4 after muted demand in semi-urban and rural areas dampened festive season performance. As for the financial services sector, banks, NBFCs and fintechs are expected to make cautious moves with increased regulatory pressure from RBI on lending norms for riskier credits.Industries such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, electric vehicles and infrastructure are expected to see the highest workforce expansion and new hirings while power and energy and FMCG sectors are projected to see robust replacement hiring in the second half.“Despite a slower pace in Q3, this upward trend in employment isn’t merely about increasing headcounts; it’s a strategic move to leverage economic growth and take advantage of conducive policies,” said Kartik Narayan, CEO of staffing at TeamLease Services.Among the cities, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai are the top cities for incremental workforce expansion as well as for replacement hiring and new hiring. “Tier-2 cities are not far behind as these cities are gaining business prominence and show high incremental workforce expansion in cities like Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Kochi, Nagpur, Chandigarh and Indore,” the report said.Job seekers are likely to find more open roles in areas such as human resources, marketing and information technology. “Kolkata takes the lead in H2 for BFSI workforce expansion. Human Resources function spearheads the incremental new hiring… Additionally, a substantial 85% incremental new hiring in blue-collar roles showcases the enduring value of hands-on operational role,” said Krishnendu Chatterjee, VP and business head.Besides the Teamlease report, the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, which includes nearly 3,100 employers across sectors, also showed that India’s hiring sentiment for the fourth quarter is one of the highest across the world. About 37% of the employers surveyed are planning to increase their staff strength in the next three months.