An impressive 3.5 lakh people is estimated to be hired by Indian establishments in the June-ending quarter. This was revealed by a survey conducted by Ma Foi Randstad, a leading integrated HR service provider in the country. The survey goes on to forecast that ‘driven by India’s economic turnaround post downturn, hiring in the organized sector is set to pick up at a greater pace in the second quarter’.

The latest survey reveals that during January-March quarter, 1,53,564 jobs were created in India and predicts that during April-June quarter, 3,47,463 jobs will be created. The year 2010 may witness the creation of around one million jobs in the country.

The most promising development in the employment market revealed by the survey results is that the hiring spree is taking place across sectors and not limited to a few. Healthcare sector lead the show in new job creation during Jan-March quarter with a tally of 52, 752. Hospitality with 21,500 and Education, Training & Consultancy with 16,200 too came up with a good show.

Forecast for April-June quarter is again lead by healthcare sector with an estimated 96,248 new jobs. Real estate and construction sector with 52,115 jobs, hospitality with 49,000 jobs and IT & ITES sector with 34,000 jobs are also expected to contribute substantially. The jump in hiring is mostly in Real Estate and Construction, Media and Entertainment and Healthcare sectors.

The surveyed companies revealed their ‘wait and watch’ hiring strategy. Most firms said that the hiring would be spread across the year to avoid risk.

Ma Foi Randstad Employment Trends Survey is the country’s largest and most elaborate employment market study. The HR service provider has been conducting this survey since 2004. The latest survey results were based on the information gathered from 650 organizations spread over 13 industry sectors in top-eight cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

The booming Indian economy and the buoyant employment scene are prompting many global carmakers to venture into the Indian automobile market. This is also triggered by the slump in car sales in the Western markets.

India offers a huge market for small, compact cars that don’t drain the pockets. Auto giants like General Motors, Toyota and Honda are lining up new models for the Indian consumers this year. All of these are in the price range of Rs. 4-5 lakhs. The pricing is aimed at middle-class Indians, who are suddenly finding themselves with disposable income.

Indian cars sales, though a decent 1.5 million last year, is nowhere near China’s. However, the changing economic and social norms are elevating more and more people into the middle-class category. India’s car ownership rate is at an abysmal 12 cars per 1000 people. The huge middle-class market with its unbridled desire to better their lifestyle is proving a blessing to the global automakers.

Though India has a market for luxury cars, it is not growing as much as the small car segment. The car sales figures say it all. Out of the five cars sold in India, four are small cars. This is prompting more global players to test the waters here.

Another factor contributing to this trend is the slump in car sales in the West due to the slow waning of global economic slowdown and connected dismal employment scene. To tide over this difficult phase, many are turning to India.

However, survival in the Indian market is no cakewalk. Here they will face stiff competition from local manufacturers who build cars for the Indian roads at very competitive prices. The best example is the Nano from Tata Motors.

Though Indian consumer is the ultimate winner, this trend is worsening the already grim scene of congested roads and environment pollution.

The drop in hiring that accompanied economic slowdown has eased with its withdrawal. Indian and global companies are eagerly talent searching in India as a part of their post-recession plans.

Last decade saw India emerge as the hunting ground for talent among multinational corporations. The last two recessive years witnessed the rate of hiring come down due to the general downsizing trend. With the world slowly but surely emerging out of economic downturn, hiring spree is back.

The rise in outsourcing exports is prompting top Indian outsourcing companies like Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro to restart their headhunting in bulk. Wipro took in almost 5,000 staff during the last quarter. This is a complete turnaround from the previous quarter, when it had downsized by above 600.

There is good news for students seeking campus recruitments. TCS is proposing to recruit 11,000 professionals in the present quarter, mostly freshmen as trainees. Last quarter, TCS added more than 7000 to its fold. Infosys is also not far behind with plans to hire 6,000 professionals.

Multinational companies are looking towards India to fill positions across continents and profiles. Recruitment firms are expecting demand for about 100 top-level positions and a substantial number of lower level placements for Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.

Africa is fast emerging as a good employment opportunity for telecom and mining professionals. Malaysia and Dubai remain as the coveted destination for those in construction industry. Indian engineers and managers are absorbed in large numbers by UAE’s oil and gas sectors. The US, Singapore and Canada retain their favorite tag with IT, semiconductor, banking and finance professionals.

Strong demand, spurred by imminent emission deadline has pushed auto sales during the month of January to unprecedented heights. Maruti Suzuki, the largest automobile manufacturer in the country posted a whopping 33% increase in sales for the month.

While Maruti’s domestic market surged ahead by 21 % to sell 81,000 vehicles, the export tripled to almost 14,500 vehicles. This is Maruti’s best ever performance in a month till date.

Maruti Suzuki is not the only auto company to benefit from the auto boom. Hyundai Motors recorded a 42% hike in sales during January. The giant of SUV segment, Mahindra & Mahindra posted a 71% y-o-y increase for the January sales.

The general health of the industry is rosy, as the country is emerging relatively unscathed from the global economic slowdown. In a way, recession helped boost car sales, with the government bringing down interest rates, which led to easy availability of car loans.

Another factor that encouraged car sales is the government deadline regarding emission norms. As per the present directive, stricter norms will come into effect from April 2010. This means that all cars sold after this have to satisfy new emission standards. This may result in a price hike. The present rush is to beat this possibility. Improved employment scene and better pay packets have also aided this trend.

The recent RBI policy review is expected to provide added impetus to the automobile industry. The central bank is trying to contain inflation by raising CRR and has left interest rates untouched.