Indian Job Market And IT Sector Declines 21% in December

Pranay

12 months ago

IT Sector Struggle:

In December 2023, hiring in the Indian IT sector dropped by 21%, continuing a trend observed throughout the second half of the previous year. The Naukri JobSpeak Index revealed that job roles like full stack data scientist, IT infrastructure engineer, and automation engineer still saw decent hiring, despite a cautious job market in the IT industry.

Sectors such as BPO, education, retail, and healthcare displayed careful hiring sentiments, decreasing by 17%, 11%, 11%, and 10%, respectively, in job offers compared to December 2022. However, hospitality and pharma experienced job growth during the same period. Interestingly, AI-related job offers stood out with a 5% increase in December 2023 compared to the same month in 2022.

According to Naukri.com On IT Sector And Other Job Markets :

According to Dr. Pawan Goyal, the Chief Business Officer of Naukri.com, hiring in December showed a small 2% increase compared to November, mostly because of non-IT sectors. Unfortunately, the IT field continued to struggle, affecting the overall hiring index compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the hospitality sector kept growing, with a 4% rise in new job offers in December 2023 compared to the same month in 2022, especially in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

Professionals with over 16 years of experience were highly sought after in the hospitality sector. The Pharma industry also saw a 2% increase in hiring due to a renewed focus on research and development. Interestingly, smaller cities outperformed larger metros, with Vadodara showing a 3% growth in new job offers in December compared to the same month in 2022.

Growth in the Hospitality Industry:

The hospitality sector kept up its growth pace, with a 4% rise in hiring compared to December of the previous year. Mumbai and Delhi-NCR saw the most significant job growth in this sector.

Cautious Hiring in Different Fields:

Industries like BPO, education, retail, and healthcare approached hiring carefully, seeing declines of 17%, 11%, 11%, and 10%, respectively, in job offers compared to December last year.

Steadiness in the Oil and Gas Field:

Although the oil and gas sector didn’t experience remarkable growth in new job offers in December 2023, it maintained stable levels similar to the same month in the prior year.

Pharmaceutical Sector’s Growth:

The pharmaceutical sector had a 2% increase in hiring in December 2023 compared to the same month in 2022, with the most substantial growth in new job offers seen in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Mumbai.

Experts Anticipate in the Third Quarter of FY24:

The Indian IT sector is gearing up to share its earnings for the third quarter of the financial year 2024. On January 11, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys will kick off the quarterly earnings season for October to December.

According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, four major Indian tech companies – Infosys, TCS, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra – part of the Nifty 50 index, may experience a drop in US Dollar revenue in the December quarter. This potential decline is attributed to uncertainties in the market, including increased furloughs and reduced demand for non-essential services, making it a challenging quarter.

Although the December quarter is usually considered weak due to the holiday season, this time around, the challenges seem more pronounced than usual. Wipro is expected to face the most significant decline in dollar revenue at -2.4%, while Infosys might see a dip of 1.5-2%, and TCS is anticipated to remain relatively stable.

Kotak Institutional Equities, in its report, foresees a subdued performance across the IT sector in the third quarter. The market is now closely watching for signs of revenue acceleration in the fiscal year 2025.

To know More – Visit