Marketing is a must for a business. A testimony to it is an imperative marketing department, inclusion of CRM systems, add-ons of customer behavior and big analytics software. If this is the case of marketing, in the recent years, human resource function is also evolving on these terms with more and more turnkey HR solutions being offered to companies.

Applicant tracking systems are being installed, HR recruitment software development is on the rise, social recruiting cloud solutions are emerging and more are yet to unveil to the business consumer market. These developments within the HR technology have set in as subsequence of one strong trend; the rise in hiring in India.

A recent report by InfoEdge revealed that there has been a 15% rise in companies hiring between January 2013 and 2014. Such rise is promoted by the insurance (26%↑), IT and ITeS (~18%↑), BPO (13%↑), Oil, banking and pharmaceutical sectors.

Some precedents that have paved way to a surge in demand for human resources have been:

1. Increase in FDI in the insurance sector from 29% to 49%.
2. Optimistic sentiment after the establishment of the new government.
3. List of employment/job-creating reforms, taxation clarity and labour laws.

Interestingly this trend not only reflects the demand for talent at the enterprise level but also among startups.

Start-ups: Industry’s Game-Changers

Another recent report on HR trends in India from TimesJobs RecruitX states that Internet start-ups have observed a growth of 25% in terms of providing job opportunities. The internet start-ups in question here include e-commerce majors like Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon India.

While Indian startups are hunting for desi talent, international startups are also turning towards India to prepare their talent base. Startups are now confidently entering the recruitment action offering more employment opportunities, because of the evident rise in angel funding and venture capital investments. With angel investors backing up scores of start-ups, there are companies that are now able to provide a considerable amount of perks for their new recruits. Research shows that every year, startups contribute to 20,000 to 25,000 jobs in India. Incentives that startups use to attract talents have been compensation, thrill of innovation, steady growth within their function and ESOPs.

Hiring trends that emerged this year bring in optimism among business quarters. Although many sectors have shown great hiring spirit, IT and internet sectors have been active recruiters when it comes to the startup space. This just reflects that both at the enterprise and startup spheres, optimistic investments have been driving the search for better talent across India.