Cos cautious about hiring; biz not as bad: Info Edge

Although, business could have been better but, it is not as bad as in 2008-09 when the market froze and companies had stopped hiring, said Oberoi. However, recruitments are bad in certain sectors like telecom and insurance, he added.

Meanwhile, certain companies have been forced to downsize and are hiring in certain parts of the business instead of recruiting new members throughout the organization.

Here is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.

Q: How is business at Naukri, very tough considering that people hardly seem to be recruiting?

A: Business could definitely have been better but it is not as bad as we thought it would be given the GDP growth rates. Certainly it is a lot better than 2008-2009 when the markets just froze and nobody was hiring. But it is not as good as it was last year at the same time.

Q: Are there any particular sectors that are showing some improvement that would give us a check on which sectors would do well in the equity markets. How is IT doing?

A: IT is fine. What we are seeing right now is that except for a few sectors which have been in very bad shape for a while now like telecom and insurance, in other sectors it is very company specific. Some companies are still hiring, they are paying us a lot of money.

They are paying us more than last year while others are not. I think it is a company specific thing right now, not a very sector specific thing except for sectors like telecom and insurance.

Q: For people even other than those who are investors of Info Edge who is paying, who is hiring and who is firing?

A: I don't think many companies are firing at this point in time but, companies are cautious about hiring. What is happening is companies are not hiring for new projects because a lot of new products are not hitting the market. There aren't too many companies entering the market. Attrition rates are still high. They have moderated but they are still in double digits in most companies.

So many companies are hiring to replace people and many companies are hiring in parts of the business, not in every part of the business. Of course, some businesses are not in very good shape and companies may be downsizing in those parts but, in other parts of the business, they will still be hiring.