Flexi Staffing Grows in India Despite IT Hiring Crunch

Around 3,600 IT contract workers in India have lost their jobs between January and March as the important IT sector in the country continues to struggle. This is according to the Indian Staffing Federation, which was cited in a report by Reuters. Numbers from the Federation show that despite the IT hiring crunch, overall flexi staffing in India continued its growth in Q4 of the Indian fiscal year, reaching approximately 1.44 million workers by the end of March.

Many of the workers in the sector take on temporary or flexible contracts in outsourcing while being managed by recruitment agencies. According to the report, pandemic-era services - for example in e-commerce, telecommuting or e-learning - were suffering setbacks and were cutting back on IT outsourcing. Additionally, the war in Ukraine and ensuing inflation was also slowing down spending from European clients.

The Indian Staffing Federation saw positive developments especially in the sectors of manufacturing, logistics and retail.

Correction: The numbers previously cited in this report have been retracted by Reuters.