Jobs are back! Banks, IT, auto firms hiring!

Jobs are back with a bang in India, proving it to be the most optimistic nation in terms of hiring plans.

The 'cautious optimism' that pervaded throughout the last year has evaporated and companies are now looking to hire aggressively.

According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, India has a net employment outlook -- a measure of recruiting plans -- of 39 per cent for the first quarter of 2010, the highest among 35 countries surveyed. India has been reporting the strongest hiring plans globally since the third quarter of 2008. Click on NEXT to find out who's hiring. . .

Banks

With the Reserve Bank of India allowing retired teachers, kirana shop owners and public call office operators to be hired as business correspondents, banks are set to hire over 200,000 people over the next few years to push financial inclusion initiatives.

So far, only some banks have finalised the number of correspondents they would hire.

Among the banks that are looking to hire aggressively are: State Bank of India, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Barclays, ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered, HDFC Bank and Yes Bank.

While the country's largest lender, State Bank of India, is expected to hire at least 40,000 persons, Punjab National is looking at an additional 75,000, while Union Bank intends to hire 50,000 business correspondents over the next two to three years.

Canara Bank  and Andhra Bank  have not finalised the number they would hire. They are seeking an authorisation from their boards to get a wider range of people.

The correspondents would be involved in collecting deposits, helping account holders withdraw cash and also sell other financial products such as life insurance. The biggest use of the hand-held devices used by the business correspondents would be to remit funds from, say, Dharavi in Mumbai , to a village in Dumka in Jharkhand.

StanChart is looking at employing 2,500 people, HDFC Bank is set to hire more than 4,000 people, and Yes Bank is to raise its headcount by about 3,600.

Tata Consultancy Services

Signalling a return of good times in the information technology sector, India's largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services, plans to hire 30,000 employees in the next financial year.

The additional recruitment will represent an increase of 20.55 per cent over the 24,855 employees it has hired for 2009-10. The company will maintain its freshers to lateral ratio at 70:30 respectively.

"These are our global numbers. We have already made 14,000 offers to students across campuses. They will join the company from the second quarter of 2010-11," vice president and head (global HR) Ajoy Mukherjee said.

Meanwhile, the company's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, N Chandrasekaran said: "We see large deals coming back to the table. The situation has improved over the last two-three quarters. While it may still be too early for an economic recovery, we do see a business recovery underway."

Infosys Technologies

Infosys Technologies has said it hopes to recruit 15,000 people in the days ahead and had already begun the process by visiting campuses, even as it looks for acquisitions in Europe and some non-English speaking countries.

"We are looking for acquisitions," Infosys  chief executive officer and managing director Kris Gopalakrishnan told reporters in Mumbai on the sidelines of the Nasscom India Leadership Forum on Thursday.

The company is looking at acquisitions across Europe, and non-English-speaking countries and even in the US, Gopalakrishnan said, adding, "We are open to acquisitions everywhere...and across verticals."

The company has plans to recruit from campuses for the next year, he said.

"We are already recruiting in the campuses. In the campuses, we hope to recruit 15,000 people."

"We already gave a raise (in salary) in October, about eight per cent on an average in India. And what we will do in April, we will wait and see because the next cycle for increment is in April," Gopalakrishnan said.

Deloitte

Global business consultancy firm, Deloitte, plans to almost double its India workforce to 24,500 over the next 30 months, a top company official said.

"We will hire around 12,000 people in every sector, including IT, CAs, financial services. The process has started and 40 per cent of the total hires will be freshers," Deloitte India's managing director Hari Kumar told PTI on the sidelines of the Nasscom Summit in Mumbai on Thursday.

The recruitments would be across the 13 offices Deloitte has in India, Kumar said.

He, however, added that the firm was not very keen on expanding its operations (in terms of offices) in the country.

Siemens

Technology major Siemens on Tuesday said it will invest Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion) in India over the next three years for venturing into wind turbine manufacturing and scaling up existing production capacity.

The company also looking at raising headcount in India from 17,000 at present to 25,000 by 2012.

Of the total investment, Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) would be used for setting up a high-end technology wind turbine manufacturing facility in the country.

Wipro

Reports indicate that Indian IT major Wipro will hire 7,500 new employees in the coming fiscal year.

The company is currently making lateral hirings and will also hire non-engineering students.

LG Electronics

Korean consumer durables maker LG Electronics on Thursday said it will hire around 4,000 people in India in next three months to enhance its after-sales services in the air conditioner segment.

The company's Indian subsidiary LG Electronics India has been on a hiring spree since the last six months recruiting around 6,000 people.

The company plans to have a total strength of 10,000 people in the next three months.

Genpact Ltd

Indian business process outsourcing major Genpact is likely to hire 10,000 employees worldwide, said newspaper reports.

The company will also employ senior level people across the globe.

Computer Sciences Corporation

American IT firm, Computer Sciences Corporation, is planning to hire 5,000 people in India as it is on an expansion spree in the country.

A major chunk of the new employees will be freshers picked from various campuses in the country.

Mahindra Satyam

Mahindra Satyam, the rebranded Satyam Computer Services, is planning to recruit 2,000 professionals. It will be a mix of freshers and lateral hiring, to cater to specific requirements of some clients.

The IT outsourcing company, now treading on a recovery path, received approval from its new owner, Tech Mahindra , in October 2009 to go ahead with external hiring for speciality skills.

"Things are looking good and we are seeing some positive trends on the business side. Since the requirements are pouring in and the business outlook is clearly visible, on the whole, we are looking at 2,000 people to be brought on board, including specialised skills which we don't have in the company currently," a top official from the company, who did not wish to be named, said.

Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki India said on Friday it will hire an additional 950 people in the next fiscal, including some expatriates from Europe and the United States.

"We are looking at 950 people for 2010-11. A good chunk will go for research and development," Maruti Suzuki India managing executive officer administration (HR, finance and IT) S Y Siddiqui told reporters on the sidelines of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers HR conclave.

At present, MSI has a staff strength of 7,500 employees. Enrollment in the next fiscal will be higher than the 800 people recruited this fiscal by the company, Siddiqui said.

It is 950 as of now and it will get revised when we look at the expanded capacity.

General Motors India

General Motors India on Friday said it will double production from its Talegaon facility from March onwards, four months ahead of schedule, to meet increased demand in the market, and will also hire 800 people in the next seven to eight months.

The company will be hiring more to meet additional requirements. "Currently we have 4,000 people across India, we will add 800 more staff in the next 7-8 months," General Motors India (GMI) vice president P Balendran said.

Hexaware Technologies

IT major Hexaware Technologies plans to hire 400-500 fresh engineers in the current calendar year, a top company official said.

"We are planning to add around 400-500 engineers in 2010," Hexaware's executive chairman Atul Nishar said on the sidelines of the Nasscom India Leadership Forum. Besides, this the IT firm is also mulling a wage hike.

"We plan to hike wages. The industry's average hike is between 8-12 per cent and we will be in the same range," he said.