Talent freeze: CXOs get picked, mid-level left waiting
From boardrooms to back offices, India Inc. is hitting the brakes on hiring. This time, it's not just about IT—mid-level managers are feeling the freeze, while top roles remain the only sure bet.
The crisis in the Middle East, poor visibility and business realignment as companies measure the impact of artificial intelligence have caused hesitancy in the job market. Slower hiring in India's private sector mirrors the overall increase in unemployment, driven by fewer rural jobs.
'There is a degrowth in many sectors in terms of headcount addition. When compared quarter on quarter, most of the sectors have shown an 18-20% dip in hiring mandates," said Guruprasad Srinivasan, group chief executive officer (CEO) of staffing firm Quess Corp. 'The sectors are showing a kind of withdrawal symptom from hiring.
Also read: Big Four feel the heat as promotions drop, clients tighten purse strings
The year-on-year numbers do not look encouraging either. Quess has about 1,300 open mandates in the IT and Global Capability Center (GCC) sector, about 18% down from the April-June period of last year. Banking and financial services (BFSI) mandates have fallen by at least 20%, while auto and engineering by 13% in the first quarter of the fiscal year, when compared on a like-for-like basis. Srinivasan pointed out that the consumer and retail sector remains flat, while the only sector showing some growth is manufacturing and construction.
The drop in hiring mandates at contract staffing firms reflects the increase in the unemployment rate to 5.6% in May from 5.1% in April. It was the domino effect of a shift in rural employment away from agriculture, according to data released Monday by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI). According to the MoSPI, the contraction in agricultural activity affected both men and women in rural areas.
Changing tack
Quess' rival TeamLease Services has also cautioned about a damp hiring environment.
'There is a relative slowdown in private sector hiring. Of the 600 million people participating in India's labour force, 80 million are employed in the formal sector. When further distilled, 6 million of the 80 million fall into the third-party contract staffing space," said Balasubramanian A., senior vice-president and business head at TeamLease Services. 'There may not be large-scale layoffs, but a measured approach in hiring."
Also read: TCS offers vendor bonus to speed up quality hiring
According to the Teamlease Employment Outlook report, 47% of employers anticipate workforce expansion, 25% expect reductions, and 28% foresee no change, resulting in net employment change (NEC) of +2.8% in the April-September months of this fiscal. The NEC for the earlier six months (October 2024-March 2025) was +7.1%, signalling a 'deliberate pivot toward demand-sensitive and cost-conscious hiring".
The hiring industry includes staffing firms that provide a third-party workforce, where the employee works for a firm but is on the payroll of the hiring vendor. Then, there are recruitment companies that place junior and middle-management executives in companies. Search firms look at hiring top-level executives.
Mint detailed in May how large tech-enabled businesses such as Zomato, Cars24, and Gupshup, among others, have laid off employees over the past quarter. Many others, such as Swiggy and Flipkart, have pruned divisions and reassigned staff to other roles. Globally, too, big tech firms like Microsoft are pruning their workforce.
Mid-level executives
Job opportunities for the middle-order executives were scarce in the April-June period. 'There is a 15% dip in the hiring mandates of executives who have four to eight years of experience in the consumer, pharmaceutical, hospitality and financial services," noted Anshuman Das, chief executive and co-founder of Careernet, a talent solutions provider.
But a year-on-year comparison may be unjustified, as Das pointed out. 'When one compares on a like-to-like basis, the drop in hiring mandates will widen because there were no tariff-related challenges and the global uncertainty was still limited to the Russia-Ukraine war."
Also read: Jumping jobs? A Supreme Court judgement just made it tough, for freshers
Leadership hiring is turning out to be a mixed bag and some businesses are urgently looking for CXOs. In fact, Mint wrote this week that even in the case of open positions, job seekers are hesitant about joining a new firm as they are afraid of sudden changes in the firm's need for a new person as the geopolitical climate and global economy play truant. The last man in will be the first one out—a fear that has gripped many.
'It is client specific and we are seeing good traction in industrial manufacturing, pharmaceutical, automotive and auto ancillary and Indian firms who want to set up base in Africa and Latin America," said K. Sudarshan, managing director for the search firm EMA Partners India Ltd. He pointed out that the FMCG hiring, on the other hand, is 'tepid".
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Mint
5 hours ago
- Mint
As job freeze grips India, mid-level managers feel the chill
Next Story Devina Sengupta India's corporate sector is experiencing a significant hiring slowdown, affecting mid-level managers and driven by geopolitical crises and business realignment amid AI's impact. Hiring mandates have dropped by 18-20% across many sectors, with overall unemployment rising to 5.6%. The warning that the hiring mandates in the contract staffing space are going down comes within days of government data showing the unemployment rate rose to 5.6% in May from 5.1% in April. Gift this article From boardrooms to back offices, India Inc. is hitting the brakes on hiring. This time, it's not just about IT—mid-level managers are feeling the freeze, while top roles remain the only sure bet. From boardrooms to back offices, India Inc. is hitting the brakes on hiring. This time, it's not just about IT—mid-level managers are feeling the freeze, while top roles remain the only sure bet. The crisis in the Middle East, poor visibility and business realignment as companies measure the impact of artificial intelligence have caused hesitancy in the job market. Slower hiring in India's private sector mirrors the overall increase in unemployment, driven by fewer rural jobs. 'There is a degrowth in many sectors in terms of headcount addition. When compared quarter on quarter, most of the sectors have shown an 18-20% dip in hiring mandates," said Guruprasad Srinivasan, group chief executive officer (CEO) of staffing firm Quess Corp. 'The sectors are showing a kind of withdrawal symptom from hiring. The year-on-year numbers do not look encouraging either. Quess has about 1,300 open mandates in the IT and Global Capability Center (GCC) sector, about 18% down from the April-June period of last year. Banking and financial services (BFSI) mandates have fallen by at least 20%, while auto and engineering by 13% in the first quarter of the fiscal year, when compared on a like-for-like basis. Srinivasan pointed out that the consumer and retail sector remains flat, while the only sector showing some growth is manufacturing and construction. The drop in hiring mandates at contract staffing firms reflects the increase in the unemployment rate to 5.6% in May from 5.1% in April. It was the domino effect of a shift in rural employment away from agriculture, according to data released Monday by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI). According to the MoSPI, the contraction in agricultural activity affected both men and women in rural areas. Changing tack Quess' rival TeamLease Services has also cautioned about a damp hiring environment. 'There is a relative slowdown in private sector hiring. Of the 600 million people participating in India's labour force, 80 million are employed in the formal sector. When further distilled, 6 million of the 80 million fall into the third-party contract staffing space," said Balasubramanian A., senior vice-president and business head at TeamLease Services. 'There may not be large-scale layoffs, but a measured approach in hiring." Also read: TCS offers vendor bonus to speed up quality hiring According to the Teamlease Employment Outlook report, 47% of employers anticipate workforce expansion, 25% expect reductions, and 28% foresee no change, resulting in net employment change (NEC) of +2.8% in the April-September months of this fiscal. The NEC for the earlier six months (October 2024-March 2025) was +7.1%, signalling a 'deliberate pivot toward demand-sensitive and cost-conscious hiring". The hiring industry includes staffing firms that provide a third-party workforce, where the employee works for a firm but is on the payroll of the hiring vendor. Then, there are recruitment companies that place junior and middle-management executives in companies. Search firms look at hiring top-level executives. Mint detailed in May how large tech-enabled businesses such as Zomato, Cars24, and Gupshup, among others, have laid off employees over the past quarter. Many others, such as Swiggy and Flipkart, have pruned divisions and reassigned staff to other roles. Globally, too, big tech firms like Microsoft are pruning their workforce. Mid-level executives Job opportunities for the middle-order executives were scarce in the April-June period. 'There is a 15% dip in the hiring mandates of executives who have four to eight years of experience in the consumer, pharmaceutical, hospitality and financial services," noted Anshuman Das, chief executive and co-founder of Careernet, a talent solutions provider. But a year-on-year comparison may be unjustified, as Das pointed out. 'When one compares on a like-to-like basis, the drop in hiring mandates will widen because there were no tariff-related challenges and the global uncertainty was still limited to the Russia-Ukraine war." Leadership hiring is turning out to be a mixed bag and some businesses are urgently looking for CXOs. In fact, Mint wrote this week that even in the case of open positions, job seekers are hesitant about joining a new firm as they are afraid of sudden changes in the firm's need for a new person as the geopolitical climate and global economy play truant. The last man in will be the first one out—a fear that has gripped many. 'It is client specific and we are seeing good traction in industrial manufacturing, pharmaceutical, automotive and auto ancillary and Indian firms who want to set up base in Africa and Latin America," said K. Sudarshan, managing director for the search firm EMA Partners India Ltd. He pointed out that the FMCG hiring, on the other hand, is 'tepid". Topics You May Be Interested In Stay updated with the latest Trending, India , World and United States news. Get breaking news and key updates here on Mint!
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Make yoga a lifestyle, it provides path of pure discipline, resilience, self-discovery: India Inc
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Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Q) June is turning out to be a volatile month for D-Street. How is 2H2025 likely to pan out for Indian markets? Do you think most of the negatives are behind us? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Q) What does 50 bps cut mean for equity and bond markets? What should be an asset allocation strategy? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Q) What is your take on Q4 earnings from India Inc.? Any hits and misses which you tracked in the results? Q) Nifty Bank hit a record high in June which suggests that there is a lot of interest in banking stocks. What is fueling rally in financials – is it the rate cut by RBI? Q) Which sectors are likely to remain in limelight in the 2H2024? Q) The tonality keeps changing from the US when it comes to 'Trade Talks'. Do you think it is still a relevant headwind for equity markets across the globe? Q) China equity markets are up in double digits while we have underperformed most EM peers. 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Edited Excerpts –Last one month we have seen a lot of volatility, the result being that Nifty has been range bound, moving in a zig-zag pattern and not finding a one-way is mostly because of mixed news coming in and out and investor sentiment undecided. While there are green shoots in corporate earnings, interest rates, inflation and growing demand, there are certain critical issues that still unrest and foreign fund inflows are still a matter of concern. In H2 2025, I think we can expect this lingering negativity to go away, if India inc. numbers continue to get better we will see a one-sided upward movement in the sectors like Infra, Health, BFSI will continue to grow and support the broader market. India while growing at 6.5% is still the most promising emerging market in the global economy and there is only upside from rate cut of 50 bps in their latest MPC meeting was more than what was expected on the street. Following that up with a cut in CRR ratio has ensured massive liquidity push in the credit we talk about the impact on the investment side, we have now seen a one-sided reduction in the repo rate of 100 bps since February 2025 that will have a positive impact on the bond prices as they are inversely proportionate to the interest are advising clients to look at short term bond funds and expect accrual income in the future. On the equity side, we are expecting a liquidity boost, due to fall in the interest rates and fixed deposits investors are most likely to deploy less funds in these liquidity may boost up equities. Our asset allocation strategy is to shift Debt investments from long term funds to short term funds while not increasing overall allocation to debt because we are expecting equities to outperform in h2 we review Q4 earnings, aggregate profit after tax (PAT) for BSE 500 companies grew by 10% Y-o-Y and by 9% for the full FY25. There was sluggish domestic consumption and limited government spending in the first half due to elections and a volatile geo-political was a big step down from a stellar performance in FY24 that saw a 30% growth. BFSI sector stood out, contributing 1.84 % to the GDP and posted improved all stakeholders in the sector, MNCs, Private firms, Small & Midcap companies performed well. Metals, Telecom, Chemicals and Cement also supported positively to the growth. Certain sectors that showed sluggishness were PSUs, Industrials and could see a turnaround, we expect the PAT growth to improve in most sectors on account of increase in demand and stability on the global trade tariff wars could see a conclusion and that should bring a much needed respite and decrease are bullish on BFSI which will continue to shine and have another good year, Agriculture and Defence is also looking to outshine in FY we discussed earlier, the BFSI sector has stood out in FY25 as an outperformer. Bank Nifty hit a record high in June following earnings growth numbers and a positive outlook for was more positive is that we saw broad based growth across all verticals in BFSI. Banking, Wealth, Insurance across small , mid and large cap companies saw increase in we look at number, on Y-o-Y basis, there was a 16% increase in PAT, 14% increase in Non-Interest Income, 13% increase in retail advance and 14% increase in MSME advances. These are very healthy numbers across the rate cuts by RBI has definitely helped banks by providing excess liquidity but is not the only reason fuelling this rally. RBI rate cuts were as recent as February but we have seen good numbers coming in all through FY factors supporting this rally are more on the fundamental side, most banks now have significant revenues coming in from non-interest activities such as wealth and insurance. They are high margin businesses with a huge growth still underserved and under penetrated when it comes to financial services; hence, there is a significant head are sitting on credible data and are able to convert their existing CASA customers by cross selling and thus increasing their revenue per the credit side, the growth cycle is strong and is expected to grow at 13-14% which should continue to support profits. NBFC's credit growth outpaced banks and will continue to do so in are bullish on BFSI, with the recent RBI rate cut we can expect strong liquidity. There is scope for penetration for financial services, credit growth is growing strong. Supported with slight improvement in demand, we should see this sector giving another strong are also taking positive calls on Defence fulled by governments efforts to have a self-sutainable defence industry and reduce the dependency on order pipeline here looks solid and defence production is projected to reach from Rs. 1.75 Trillion in FY25 to Rs. 3 Trillion in FY 29. The ministry of defence has already singed a record 193 contracts worth Rs. 2 of these 177 contracts were handed to domestic companies, this shows the governments commitment of making India a defence manufacturer in their own and related sectors are also looking bullish, policy support is on their side particularly in the areas of renewable energy and power infra companies will continue to benefit from India's growing infra need in Roads, Airports, Dams and our view, US trade talks were never a major factor for equity markets in India. Yes, they played a role for equity markets across the globe, but for India it never posed a very big was a lot of stir created early on when the tariff wars started but soon it was realised that it was more of a bargaining stunt to get the stakeholders on the table to negotiate rather than a permanent change of structure in the global trade only point of concern is FII inflow into our equity markets. While our DIIs have been a major support, we can't ignore the validation that comes from FIIs and the quantum of their capital that ensures Indian equities are in Talks create a little uncertainty that results in institutional money being kept at bay, that's the only relevant headwind I think that equity in recent times have outperformed all the other EMs. This is a little ironical seeing how the main target of US trade wars is China, and their companies are facing an uphill battle in case tariffs are increased substantially.I would still refrain from considering the Chinese stock market as an investment destination. The main reason being the opaqueness of the country and the dictatorial laws that can be brought down by the government onto the private of giving double digit returns, the 3-yr performance of China based Mutual funds is still as low as 2%.For global diversification I think US tech stocks are a better bet. With AI changing the face of computing, I think the biggest beneficiaries will US companies who are the biggest as well, US companies are at the center of every digital / computer revolution that has happened and I don't see why it should be any different Indian markets, I think one can be cautious while investing in Auto. FY25 saw a modest growth of 6.4% driven by passenger and two wheelers while the commercial vehicles growth remained have seen an impressive performance over last 24 months with increased sales across all verticals but going forward I think it's a little over the EV industry is giving the sector some headache, while most auto companies have installed EVE capacities, consumer acceptance of EV is not growing at a desirable has been slow and due to EV related lack of Infra it is not expected to pick up very soon. We are also expecting a cyclical slowdown in sales, only silver lining are the SUV sales which continue to grow but other passenger vehicles along with two wheelers are looking bleak.
