While the Indian IT industry is known to be reeling under a shadow of doubt and reported mass layoffs, it looks the situation in the other sectors isn't that blissful or rosy either. The IT sector has made some major headlines this year due to the retrenchment and employees raising the issue with the labour department.
And it is now being said that hiring across industries has seen a dip. Apart from IT and financial services, leading listed companies have also seen a decline in hiring in the year 2016-17, as compared to the previous years, according to the Indian Express. The daily accessed data on 121 companies and reported that net hiring in these firms dwindled to 730,694 from the previous figure of 742,012.
As per the data, 107 companies saw a consecutive decline in their headcount. While these firms employed 684,452 people at the end of March 2015, the number dipped to 677,296 in March 2016 and 669,784 in March 2017.
"A number of companies in the manufacturing space are already saddled with high unutilised capacities and, therefore, instead of hiring they are taking measures to reduce their staff cost. Also, in many cases, if employees are leaving or retiring, the organisation is not getting replacements," an HR official told the Indian Express.
The slump has also affected several sectors such as textile, metal, construction, power and others. However, sectors such as auto and pharma have seen a rise in headcount.
Meanwhile, the IT sector too has time and again been saying that things aren't as bleak as it is made to be and that companies are still hiring employees. Even though automation has created quite some scare, tech firms have been saying that it will continue to hire workers and the layoffs were only a part of the yearly appraisal process.
Industry association Nasscom had earlier revealed that the companies are still hiring and have added about 1.7 lakh jobs in the 2016-17 period. Additionally, the body also said that the IT giants can be expected to hire about 1.5 lakh employees this year.
"We categorically reject the reports of mass layoffs in the sector. FY2017 saw 1.7 lakh people being added, while in Q4 alone, the gross hiring was of over 50,000 by top five companies," Press Trust of India quoted Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar as saying.
While Nasscom seems to have quelled the fears of numerous people who were likely to be affected by the rumoured sackings, it did say that the best way to retain their jobs would be to "re-skill." The body also explained how the world was moving towards automation and digital services and employees will have to "re-skill or perish."
