Subdued hiring in short term; improvement in 2 quarters

Subdued hiring in short term; improvement in 2 quarters

Mangalore Today News Network

Nov 20, 2017: With corporate India mobilizing most energies on  controlling costs, including the wage costs, and trying to rationalize its balance sheet, the hiring outlook in the private sector, is expected to stay muted till beginning of fiscal 2018-19, an ASSOCHAM assessment, based on its feedback from members has indicated.

"The focus, right now is how to deleverage, consolidate, exit from non-core businesses and achieve a lean and mean balance sheets. Going forward at least in the next quarter and a half, the corporates would be busy improving their margins and reducing their debt costs, even as the top line growth may take a back seat," said the paper.

"Under these circumstance, the fresh hiring prospects do not look bright maybe, for the two quarters; however, things should look up in the next fiscal," the paper noted. The wage cost control would remain a key area of priority in the short term.

It noted that most of the churning is taking place in telecom, financials (including private sector banks, non-banking finance companies), Information Technology, realty and infrastructure. Significantly, as the PSU banks would also bring down their employee cost to their operation ratio, post re-capitalisation by the government, the fresh hiring may also come down there as well.