Recruitment in ‘white collar’ job sectors falls year on year
Jobs in so-called ‘white-collar’ sectors in India saw 3% decline in June as sectors such as IT, retail, business process outsourcing (BPO), education and insurance acted cautiously when it came to hiring, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index.
Year-on-year analysis showed that there were 2,795 job postings in June, compared with 2,878 in June 2022. On a month-on-month basis, the number of job postings fell by 2%.
The report said: “The white collar job market of India is witnessing a structural shift. For a long time, jobs in the tech sector and in top metros were the key drivers of white collar job growth.”
Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal added: “Of late, jobs in the emerging sectors such as real estate, oil and gas, pharma, and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) have emerged as significant contributors to job growth.”
The firm’s research found that hiring in the IT industry continued to slow, with a 31% decline in new jobs created compared with June last year.
This fall-off is being seen across all types of IT companies, including global tech giants, large IT services companies, tech-focused start-ups and unicorns, the report said.
While traditional roles such as software developers and system analysts continued to witness a downturn in employment, niche roles such as cybersecurity analysts and AI specialists showed positive hiring trends, bucking the negative trend across most other tech roles, said the report.
Besides IT, sectors such as retail, business process outsourcing, education and insurance also showed cautious hiring sentiments.
However, there was some more positive news, with the report revealing that the oil and gas sector continued to expand, with 40% growth in new jobs compared with June 2022. This reflected increased domestic and export demand.
Similarly, the pharma sector enjoyed health jobs growth, with a 14% hike in new jobs year on year.
Automobile, hospitality and banking were other sectors witnessing positive hiring sentiments.
Geographically, Ahmedabad topped the list with a healthy 23% growth in employment compared with June last year, followed by Vadodara with 14% growth.
On the other hand, the report said that hiring activity continued to dip across large IT-driven metros, except Mumbai, which held steady compared to June 2022, primarily driven by the oil, gas and hospitality sectors.
The Naukri JobSpeak Index is a monthly survey representing the state of the Indian job market and hiring activity based on new job listings and job-related searches by recruiters on Naukri.com’s CV database.
Banknote withdrawal continues
Some 76% of Rs 2,000 banknotes have been returned to banks since it was announced they were to be withdrawn from circulation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.
The central bank said that of that figure 87% of Rs 2,000 notes were deposited with banks, while the remaining 13% were exchanged.
According to the data provided India’s banks, the total value of Rs 2,000 banknotes received back from circulation after the announcement on May 19 amounts to Rs 2.72 lakh crore (£26 billion) as of June 30, 2023, said the RBI in a release.
Consequently, as of the close of business on June 30, Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation stood at Rs 0.84 lakh crore, it added.
“Thus, 76% of the Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation as on May 19, 2023, have since been returned,” the RBI said.
Overall, the RBI’s update reinforces its commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and effective management of the currency ecosystem, while also addressing concerns and legal challenges associated with the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 banknotes, Global Times has reported.
The RBI’s announcement comes in the wake of the Delhi High Court’s dismissal of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenge to the central bank’s decision to withdraw Rs 2,000 banknotes.
The petitioner, Rajneesh Bhaskar Gupta, had contended that the central bank lacked the authority to withdraw the 2,000-rupee currency notes, arguing that such decisions should be made by the government.