Finance

1. Since its September 2014 launch, the nation-building ‘Make In India’ initiative has created more job opportunities, especially in the emerging manufacturing industry. Headcount has also increased in the healthcare and technology industries as well as infrastructure’s three specialised sectors: energy, power, and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction).

2. The profitability and sustainability of e-commerce as an industry will be a hot topic for 2017. Consolidations and mergers in the e-commerce space may result in increased attrition as many candidates leave to rejoin the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), fast-moving consumer durables (FMCD) and telecommunications sectors. The challenge for recruiters will be to attract candidates to emerging or new e-commerce businesses.

3. There is a general sentiment that the market is employer-driven with an oversupply of candidates. We have observed mostly replacement hiring in the FMCG and FMCD sectors and the retail industry. Hiring activity has also decreased in the real estate sector due to reduced consumer demand. The saturation — and hence, lower profit margins — in the telecommunications sector has also resulted in a recruitment slowdown.

4. Overall, annual salary hikes are expected to be between 6 and 15 per cent across all disciplines. Start-ups will typically offer a 10 to 15 per cent increase in fixed salary to candidates from bigger organisations, but the actual cost-to-company could be higher with the inclusion of stocks. Switching between similar organisations brings a 15 to 25 per cent increase for candidates, depending on seniority levels.

5.Tax remains a hot topic for 2017, specifically for indirect tax professionals. Despite a lack of clarity in the implementation of India’s goods and services tax (GST), most employers want to be prepared by having the right candidates and leaders onboard.

6. Organisations are moving towards implementation talks on Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS), which is a combination of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Indian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (IGAAP). As a result, there could be a growing demand for IFRS experts, a role that was traditionally less sought after previously.

7. Skills in demand include financial planning and analysis, with mature companies and start-ups looking to hire shared services staff and financial controllers. Companies within the e-commerce industry are also hiring vice-presidents of finance and chief financial officers.

8. With more foreign infrastructure and renewable energy companies, including those from Singapore and Europe, investing heavily in India, there is now a considerable talent shift from local Indian companies to multinational corporations.

9. While many employers expect to face minimal recruitment challenges, some companies will still have to undergo a long and thorough hiring process to find the right candidate.

10. India is gaining prominence worldwide as a finance shared services hub. A growing number of multinational corporations now have offices in Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.

 

Financial Services & Banking

I. Corporate Banking

1. The corporate banking sector remains relatively stable in India due to the presence of strong clientele like established domestic firms and multinational corporations (MNC).

2. Corporate banks have started to streamline their transaction banking teams in favour of payment and mobile-wallet friendly platforms to align with clientele preferences and activities.

3. In terms of candidate movement, we have more senior executives who are leaving the sector to join non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) — firms that provide banking services but do not hold a banking licence. NBFC services are increasingly sought-after in India due to constraints in local banks’ lending abilities.

4. Candidates that are in high demand include those who are adept in the digital banking, stressed assets and restructuring practice areas.

 

II. Finance

1. Candidates are still willing to change jobs, even moving across the country, given the right opportunity and compensation package. In particular, many professionals from the domestic banking sector are now attracted to organisations like NBFCs, microfinance institutions and payment banks.

2. Recruitment activity in the investment banking sector has increased as more end-to-end work in areas like financial control and product control is being transitioned to India.

3. Candidates with the technical expertise to support onshore and front-end businesses are particularly sought after. Returning Indians with overseas experience in investment banking are also in high demand.

4. Salary bands have increased for professionals at the vice-president level and above, a result of increased demand for business-facing end-to-end skill sets.

5. Hot jobs for 2017 include roles in product control, internal audit and compliance.

 

III. Front Office

1. Recruitment activity has increased in investment banking (IB), private equity (PE), venture capital (VC) and management consulting firms. We are also seeing new funds looking to attract talent from existing global and domestic PE & VC firms in the country.

 

2. Front office salary bands have remained constant in global PE and VC firms. To control staff turnover, pay gaps between local PE and VC firms and their global counterparts have narrowed.

 

3. Candidates from the PE, VC, IB and consulting disciplines are less keen to join newly created set-ups this year due to the recent volatility in India’s start-up ecosystem. IB and consulting professionals prefer, in general, to move into buy-side roles with PE and VC firms.

 

4. With an increasing number of tech investors in the country, VCs and PEs are now scouting for investment professionals who have a strong understanding of Software as a Service (SaaS), big data and IT.

 

5. There is increasing demand for Indian candidates with overseas IB/PE experience to fill junior level roles in India’s PE and VC firms.

 

6. Hot jobs for 2017: analysts, associates, vice presidents (for PE, VC and IB firms).

 

IV. Private Banking

1. Due to challenges in sustaining business growth, MNC private banks in India are facing high attrition rates in the range of 20 to 30 per cent. As a result, many private bankers from MNCs have moved over to local private banking firms.

2. Investors’ appetite in wealth management setups, including start-ups, in India has increased.

3. To differentiate themselves from competitors, more companies in the sector have adopted a more open-minded outlook, with family office concepts — where firms oversee day-to-day administration and management of a family’s wealth — are gaining acceptance.

4. Firms are also more receptive to team recruitment, where at least two private bankers from the same team in a competitor bank are hired. Such moves help firms to quickly scale up their teams as these bankers come in with solid market reputations and existing books.

5. Remuneration-wise, private bankers are increasingly interested in having employee stock ownership plans and greater profit-sharing schemes as part of their compensation package.

6. Bankers who have at least six years of experience are preferred over junior counterparts given their established reputation and books. Those who have demonstrated employment stability, rather than job-hoppers, are also preferred.

 

V. Analytics

1. Analytics, as a discipline, has been expanding in India’s financial services and information technology enabled services sector in recent years. More organisations, including well-established firms and start-ups, have been building up their analytics capabilities from scratch and existing analytics service providers have also put expansion plans in place. Candidates are now required to be domain agnostic, possessing the ability to work across systems and firms are looking to hire professionals with good academic background and sound technical knowledge.

 

2. Despite recent volatility in the start-up ecosystem, confidence and interest remain high in the sector. Most of the senior analytics candidates in the banking, financial services and insurance (BSFI) sector continue to seek stability and a strong brand position over high salary increments.

 

3. Skills in demand include data sciences and machine learning. Many organisations are venturing into open source and big data technology to handle the increasing amount of information that requires analysis. This trend is more apparent in consulting and start-up environments.

 

4. Advanced analytics skills such as natural language processing, deep learning, and the Internet of Things, have gained significant traction and are set for exponential growth.

 

5. Hot jobs for 2017 include positions across data sciences, machine learning, digital analytics, risk modeling and risk strategy.