The IT-software and retail sectors have witnessed a double-digit sequential growth in hiring in March, 2021, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index.

The data found that IT-Software sector remained shielded and hiring continued to grow by more than 11 per cent in the sector in March'21 against February’21. Interestingly, the Retail sector, which was severely impacted by the COVID pandemic, has seen robust revival in hiring that saw an uptick of more than 15 per cent in March.

At an overall level, the Naukri JobSpeak Index for March 2021, at 2,436, witnessed an uptick of more than 3 per cent in hiring activity as compared to February '21 at 2,356.

With the surge of COVID-19 cases leading to the nation-wide lockdown, the job market had started declining in March last year. Due to this impact, there is a notable growth of 25% in hiring in Mar'21 as compared to Mar'20. Job opportunities in the IT-Software (+42%), Medical/Hospital (+33%) and Retail (+24%) sectors showed Y-O-Y growth. However, the Hospitality and Travel sectors registered a decline of 11% in hiring in Mar'21 Vs Mar'20.

A majority of metro and non-metro cities saw growth in hiring activities except Mumbai, which saw a flat trend (0%) and Coimbatore, which saw a decline of 4% in Mar'21 Vs Mar'20. Within metros, Hyderabad (+46%) and Bangalore (+37%) led the Y-O-Y growth in hiring in Mar'21. Tier-2 cities such as Chandigarh (+43%) and Ahmedabad (+40%) also saw an uptick in Y-O-Y hiring activity.

Demand for IT-Software professionals saw a leap of +53% in Mar'21 versus the previous year. In addition, hiring for roles in Marketing/Advertising (+37%) and HR/Administration (+36%) domains showed a notable uptick at a Y-O-Y level. Hiring across experience bands saw an average increase of +32% in Mar'21 vs Mar'20 with the 8-12 years band showing maximum growth.

Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com said, "Overall, hiring activity shows a robust growth of 23% in the Jan-Mar'21 quarter as compared to the Oct-Dec'20 quarter. The IT sector has been at the forefront of fueling this growth and it is encouraging to see sectors like Retail and Accounting/Finance also showing promising recovery over the past few months. With the economy opening up, recruiters are ready to hire again, and 83% confirmed this in our latest Naukri Hiring Outlook survey."