According to a news report in the Economic Times retail sector hiring will be flattish in the coming months. "On the managerial side, we have already filled a major part of our requirements. Since the back-end is firmly in place, we do not need to add too many people." Reliance Retail president and chief executive (Lifestyle) Bijou Kurien said.
The retail sector is also expected to see some rationalisation in salary levels. Increments this year are expected to hover around 10%-15% compared to an average 25% last year.
The retail sector is also in a cautious mood now because of the depressed macro-economic environment and high rentals severely impacting consumer spending and growth plans, respectively.
In fact, there is a ready pool of talent waiting to be absorbed as several small brands struggle to survive and employees are restless to move from companies that have not been performing too well. "This is a good time to hire talent at sensible salaries," Tommy Hilfiger India CEO Shailesh Chaturvedi said.
However, the slow down will not affect the front-end job growth, yet. According to the Retailers Association of India, at least 200,000 people would be required by the industry in the next 2-3 years, a major chunk being on the front end where there has been a continuous shortage.
Companies are also likely to increase the scope of work of existing employees. They seem to have gone into a consolidation phase in the last three months.
After enjoying a rather unexpected, lucky and historical run of high growth rates averaging 8.8% during the last five years giving a sense of confidence abroad about the Indian economy, the picture has now changed for the worse. Lower growth is anticipated in the current year. Early projections by different agencies vary from a low of 7% by JP Morgan Chase to a more optimistic 8-8.5% by the ministry of finance and the Reserve Bank of India.
These projections in the state of economy have started affecting the retail consumer. The slow down is already visible in the hotel industry and retail sales are expected to slow down. The uncompleted Malls have slowed down their completion plans. In such a scenario, retail sales are bound to come down and the industry is pro-actively gearing up for the change. |