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I am penning down my thoughts in coherence with the industry sentiments that have witnessed extraordinary movement in India's capital market and technology domain. Companies like Zomato, Paytm, Nykaa, Mobikwik are all geared up for issuing an IPO which is a testament to the value that homegrown tech companies have created. I fundamentally believe that this is just the beginning of what this sector has to offer. This thought is reinforced by the numbers.

After the ebbing of the second wave in the country, the industry appears to be bullish about the growth in festivity season demand led by a rebound in consumer confidence and sentiments. Research from Indian Staffing Federation states an increase of 20% in the temporary employment market, ahead of the festive season. For E-commerce sectors in particular and the economy in general, the rise in revenue volumes is attributed to reduced restrictions, increased vaccinations, availability of bumper festive offers and discounts and surge in online shopping by the demographic dividend.

India Inc’s intent to hire increases to 38% in Q2 as volume hiring is back in vogue. E-commerce firms being allowed to operate without restrictions has facilitated more and more small businesses that have learnt the ropes of door delivering products, services and amenities via hyper-local delivery apps to get back on their feet. Businesses require young, skilled talent to ramp up operations and sales.  

The degree of informalisation of the Indian economy is one of the highest across the world with ~88.1% (as of 2019) of the entire workforce categorised as "unorganised". While this quotient is high, reeling from the wounds of the ongoing pandemic has deepened this impact. But for consumer goods companies, what is important to note is the effectiveness of the underlying distribution network which makes the products available and accessible.

After the pandemic-induced wretched employment scenario resulting from mass employee layoffs and economic uncertainty last year, things are finally beginning to look up this year as far as India Inc's intent to hire across industries and skill sets is concerned.

It all started suddenly. Yet, it will take a long time to truly be over. Maybe even the predicted third wave will slow the speed of returning to near-normalcy. In a short span of less than a year, Virus, Oxygen Concentrators, Vaccinations, have all become household words, and topics of heated discussions. Coronavirus, Novel Coronavirus, Covid-19, Covid, or the many other names it has been called, this pandemic has truly united the world akin to the Great Wars in the first half of the previous century.
 

At a crossroads in life when every human being is hoping for better times, even while witnessing suffering at close quarters, income distribution and livelihood sustenance assume far more importance than they ever did. Frontline work, a term that has acquired a new meaning and has come to encompass many more job roles than what the convention demanded, has become an essential and critical service, as much as it has turned hazardous. Remote work (or working from home) has become the mainstay of knowledge work.

India leads the way in the world chart when it comes to women in technology. As per NASSCOM estimates, women now make up 34% of the IT workforce, an increase of 10% since the last decade. India’s IT industry is a $150B industry- one of the largest sectors that drive the country's GDP. Do you see any correlation between the two? I hope you do for the fact that diversity matters. It drives growth, widens perspective, increases emotional intelligence, builds a stronger foundation and redefines resilience. Last year, IT industry recorded 138,000 new hires.