Indian firms hire more in March

India Inc's hiring activity picked up 1.5 per cent in March, led by IT-enabled services, insurance and auto sectors, a report by job portal naukri.com has said.

Job portal naukri.com's monthly Job Speak survey reflected renewed optimism among recruiters, with the new job index moving up to 962 in March compared to 947 in February.

The portal takes into account not only the jobs posted online by its clients but also those made by them with the help of the website's tele-calling team.

"The hiring intentions of companies in most industry sectors seem to be moving in a positive direction as reflected by the consecutively upward moving Job index in the first quarter of 2010. It seems 'cautious optimism' among employers has given way to definite optimism," said Sumeet Singh, the National Head (Marketing and Communication) of Info Edge, which owns the website.

Hiring in ITeS and insurance sectors have seen maximum movement with the index moving up by 13 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in March over the last month.

Recruitment in auto sector moved up by 8 per cent and in pharma sector by 7 per cent in March, the report said.

Overall, the index seems to be moving in a robust manner with hiring moving up across all industry verticals, functional areas and cities. Among cities, Delhi have emerged as the most bullish on hiring, with the city-wise job index moving up 13 per cent over the last month.