Hiring activity in India’s IT sector shrank 10% in August even as overall hiring in the country remained stable, aided by the insurance industry.

Hiring in the insurance sector continued to grow over last year for the seventh time in a row, clocking an 87% year-on-year growth in August 2022, according to a report released by Info Edge-owned employment portal Naukri.

The report does not cover gig employment, hyperlocal hiring or campus placement.

While the insurance sector saw a flurry of job opportunities, maximum traction was seen for 4-7 years' experience band (+103%) followed by 0-3 years (+99%), and 8-12 years (+42%), the report says. The sector showed a significant jump in hiring activity in NCR (up 136%) and Mumbai (up 129%).

Apart from the insurance sector, there has been a positive intent to hire in other sectors, says Naukri. Hiring activity in the travel and hospitality sector grew 56% year-on-year in August, while the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) industry reported a 43% growth in hiring.

Hiring in the auto and auto ancillary sector grew 29% in August 2022; real estate witnessed a 24% growth and the retail sector saw an 18% jump in hiring activity.

Hiring in the pharma sector, however, remained flat.

Among tier-II cities, Coimbatore led the charts with 28% year-on-year growth, followed by Kochi at 27%. Barring Chandigarh (-17%) and Vadodara (-11%), other emerging cities recorded double-digit growth in hiring activity in August. Ahmedabad and Jaipur maintained their momentum with (+20%) and (+15%) year-on-year growth respectively.

Among metros, Mumbai led the charts in hiring with 21% growth in August, whereas Delhi/NCR, Hyderabad, and Pune remained flat. Bangalore showed a dip of 10%.

Demand for professionals across all experience bands remained positive last month. Hiring activity showed a single-digit jump across all experience brackets such as 0-3 years (+7%), 4-7 years (+5%), 8-12 years (+6%), 13-16 years (+7%), and >16 years (+7%) when compared with August 2021.

“After witnessing an extravagant growth rate in the last 2-3 months, hiring activity is seeing signs of stabilization, and it would be interesting to see how the trend continues in the coming months. Important to note that Insurance as a sector has been flourishing since the start of this year as there has been continuous growth in hiring which is creating opportunities across experience bands with over 100% YOY growth in 0-7 years' experience band,” says Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri.