The hiring momentum has begun slowing down in the US with larger companies resorting to cut-backs and an increasing concern about economic growth. Indian IT companies feel they need to be watchful with a certain element of cautiousness.
CNBC-TV18's Prashant Nair spoke with Info Edge Managing Editor and CEO Hitesh Oberoi on the impact of the plunging momentum in India.
Oberoi said that the impact wasn't visible in the fourth quarter. The Q4 was Info Edge best quarter in the last 15 years. Billings for the company were up by 52 percent, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) was up by 117 percent, and the effort revenue by the group was up by 57 per cent. The Naukri India recruitment business grew by over 74 per cent. The entire recruitment business of the company generated a cash EBIDTA of around Rs 385 crore in the last quarter results.
Oberoi said he hadn't seen a slowdown for April and May yet. In fact, the non-IT segment demand has also begun bouncing back. Earlier, the jump in the recruitment business was mainly due to the increased demand in the IT sector. In the last two quarters, Info Edge has witnessed an increasing demand for non-IT professionals, including sales professionals, marketing professionals, accounting professionals and more.
Since many companies scaled down during the pandemic, they have started to regain their earlier position with the pandemic slowing down.
Naukri contributes to 70 per cent of the total revenue generated by the Infp Edge and114 per cent of the earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the same. Speaking on the disparity between the Naukri and other segments of the Info Edge, Oberoi said that their real estate business, too, has started to pick up after being hit by GST, demonetisation and the pandemic. The low home loan interest rates continue to favour the business of real estate as the demand for houses is increasing.
Even though Info Edge scaled-down the investment in the real estate sector, the management is considering increasing the investment.
