'There was hardly any recruitment after the second wave.'
'Now, there is a huge demand for manpower.'
"During the first wave of the pandemic, every company reduced its manpower by 15%-30%. Now that there is a revival, all of them want to recruit people. We are in a situation now where every candidate has 2-3 options in front of them," R P Yadav, CMD, Genius Consultants, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
Are there indications for a revival of the economy, and the rate of unemployment going down?
Yes, there are strong indications that suggest a revival of the economy.
For example, there was hardly any recruitment after the second wave.
Now, there is a huge demand for manpower.
Every company wants to recruit people and we are really struggling to give them the right people.
This is an indicator for strong demand in the market and the economy is getting revived.
With rural India accounting for 69% of the total employment, do you feel a revival in the rural economy is what India wants right now?
Of course. Traditionally, in India rural area has been the largest employment provider and not the urban area. That's because almost 68% of India's population lives in rural areas.
So, unless employment generation happens in the rural areas, the Indian economy will never get a revival.
When there is an increase in the manufacturing production, when there is demand in the service industry, tourism industry, etc. it will help in the revival of the MSME sector.
Because the bigger companies depend on MSMEs and as they are based in the rural areas, it will improve the employment situation there.
Now that the power sector, the auto sector, the pharmaceutical sector etc are doing well, there will be a demand on the MSMEs for raw materials and packaging materials.
That's why I am sure the rural areas also will do well soon.
It was reported that there was a huge consumer demand during this festival. Do you think this is an indication of better things coming?
Definitely. If you look at the way consumers were spending money and purchasing things during this Diwali, it shows definite signs of a revival.
Also, the trend we see today is, 'Great Resignation' everywhere.
We see a very large number of people resigning their jobs as they have better opportunities elsewhere.
During the first wave of the pandemic, every company reduced its manpower by 15%-30%.
Now that there is a revival, all of them want to recruit people.
We are in a situation now where every candidate has 2-3 options in front of them.
IMAGE: R P Yadav, Chairman and MD, Genius Consultants
Which sectors are looking for people right now?
Looking at what our clients are asking for, I would say there is demand for people in every sector.
The highest demand is in e-commerce, with travel and tourism coming second as these two sectors have almost fully recovered now.
There is a huge demand for manpower in the retail, healthcare, power and auto sectors.
Of course, there are a lot of opportunities in the IT and ITES sector as all the companies are in the process of digitisation.
But the real test of Covid will be after Diwali.
If the number of cases does not rise by the middle of December, we can assure a safe journey for the economy.
One consolation is, unlike what happened during the first wave when everybody was clueless, now all the companies know if there is another wave, there would be a shut down for a month or so.
Nobody will panic because of the shutdown as we know how to tide over the period.
Working from home and digitisation have changed the way businesses are done in India.
Even the restaurants are not that worried about lockdowns as they now know they can supply food to their customers through delivery platforms like Swiggy or Zomato.
Everybody knows that their business may come down by 15% or so, but it will not be affected as much as it got affected during the first wave.
Overall, I see an optimistic picture for the Indian economy in the coming days as we see great demand in every sector.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
