India Inc Buoyant on Hiring Economic Growth
Wednesday, 12 October 2011, 19:22 IST
Printer Print Email Email
Bangalore: India Inc is upbeat about the economic growth prospects in the second half of current fiscal and majority of the companies surveyed said they plans to increase their headcount in the next two years, says Regus. The Regus global business confidence index for India rose by 11 points to 145 in the six months since April 2011. Indian firms are optimistic about economic growth in the second half of current fiscal and plans to recruit people because of its robust performance during the April-September period of 2011. Although, overall, global business confidence index has dropped by 11 points. All top 14 countries showed a decrease in confidence ranging from the US, which is down 29 points, to Australia, 4 points down. The only exceptions are India (up 11 points), Brazil (up 7 points), and Germany (up 4 points). "The report finds that six months on from a rosy start to 2011, the global outlook has suffered a clear reverse. However, Indian business sentiment and activity continues to be hugely positive, and businesses are actively investing in their most valuable asset: people power," Regus Regional VP (South Asia) Madhusudan Thakur said. The survey, conducted among 12,800 business respondents globally during September 2011, revealed that more than half of Indian companies have reported a growth in revenue and profit in the first half of 2011-12. Overall, 70 percent of Indian companies surveyed plan to increase the headcount in the next two years in order to fuel growth, compared to global average of 64 percent. In particular, businesses single out freelance and remote staff as the groups of workers they are most likely to hire. "With the OECD and ILO reporting that more than 22 million new jobs a year need to be created to return to pre-crisis levels of employment, freelance and remote working are becoming an increasingly popular solution to increase headcount while remaining flexible and rapidly scalable," Regus Regional VP (South Asia) Madhusudan Thakur said. Nevertheless, over half of companies (64 percent) surveyed globally intend to recruit new staff over the next two years. Besides, 49 percent of respondent plan to hire more freelance staff and 40 percent of firms surveyed will employ more remote workers in 2011-2012 indicating a clear move toward more flexible working practices. Freelance staff will be particularly sought after in developing economies such as Mexico (76 percent), Brazil (59 percent), South Africa (57 percent) and India (53 percent) signalling that emerging economies have learnt from mature economies’ mistakes in the previous recession and are opting to maintain operations lean and rapidly scalable as they grow. Further, Indian graduates can expect plenty of opportunities over the next 2 years, as 81 percent of companies plan surveyed plan to hire freshers. The survey said that 63 percent of Indian companies have reported growth in revenue and 59 percent have registered a rise in profit. Globally, 51 percent of respondent have posted a revenue growth another 42percent have registered an increase in profit.
Source: PTI