Hiring intent still unruffled by Omicron threat

Hiring intent of India Inc may not be dented in the New Year despite an exponential rise in cases of the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus since the past one week, company executives and job market experts have said.

The latest Teamlease Employment Outlook Report, shared exclusively with ET, shows that recruitment plans of companies in India is at a seven-quarter high in January-March, the highest since the start of the pandemic, as companies are “bullish” about the next financial year on the back of rising vaccination coverage, robust economic indicators, and a strong belief about a better ability to combat new Covid-19 waves.

ET spoke to economists, job market experts and top officials of companies across sectors including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Lupin NSE -0.76 %, Motilal Oswal Financial Services NSE -0.67 %, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Deloitte, who all said hiring is likely to remain unaffected by the Omicron variant.

ET spoke to economists, job market experts and top officials of companies across sectors including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Lupin NSE -0.76 %, Motilal Oswal Financial Services NSE -0.67 %, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Deloitte, who all said hiring is likely to remain unaffected by the Omicron variant.

"The looming threat of the Omicron variant needs to be considered as a risk factor, but our research indicates that the impact would be controllable,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, executive vice president at Teamlease Services. “For most organisations, it’s going to be business as usual,” she said.