Adapting to the new hybrid normal of remote and office work, cautiously optimistic corporate are looking to hire more people and provide better appraisals in the new year as they step out of the pandemic-ravaged 2020. The coronavirus pandemic emerged as the biggest inflection point for the Indian job landscape. For the corporates, work-from-home and remote workers became the new normal and for the professionals, online learning and digital skills took centrestage.

The domestic deal-making activities were hit by weak corporate governance and a huge liquidity crunch in 2019, while the global deals were also hard to come by due to various factors including uncertainties caused by the US-China trade war, which left many investors in a wait-and-watch mode.

Dealmakers and advisors feel investors are shifting their focus to Asia Pacific, especially India, owing to geopolitical instability driven by events such as Brexit and protectionist trade wars.

Albeit muted for most part of the year, Deal Street in India has clocked M&As worth $29 billion in 2014 and expects the size to get larger with transactions worth over $40 billion in the New Year.

Campus placements are already in full-swing and hiring plans of many companies, whose expansion plans were stuck due to policy paralysis, are now getting green signals.

Steps to improve governance, instill confidence in the government machinery and streamlining function across the different ministries are also important to feed the positive mood, the DBS report added.