Key Takeaways of New Rules

There are increased responsibilities for the e-commerce platforms towards their consumers and tightening of restrictions on e-commerce trade. Any enterprise that is associated with an e-commerce company will NOT be allowed to be listed as a seller on that platform. For example, Amazon cannot list Appario (a subsidiary of Frontizo, a JV unit of Amazon & Patni Group) as a seller, as they’re associated.

Other than this, here’s what platforms need to take care of:

1. Requirement for a company outside India (or a company having an office/branch/agency outside India), to be controlled by an Indian resident

2. Appoint a nodal officer/alternate senior designated functionary to ensure adherence to the rules and provisions.

3. The amendments to the rules seek to ban flash sales, raise compliance needs, and fix liability on platforms for the failure of the sellers registered with them.

4. Add details of the country of origin for all products listed and recommend local alternatives for all imported goods.

5. List out the terms and conditions that deal with their relationships with the sellers.

6. Maintain a record of all the sellers whose offerings have repeatedly violated trademarks, copyrights, or the Information Technology Act.

7. No misleading advertising and promotions to consumers

8. Data needs to be updated within 72 hours with reference to the inventory of goods.

9. Certain restrictions and obligations when it comes to the pricing of their products, returns, late deliveries and false customer reviews.

10. No cancellation charges can be imposed unless similar charges are payable by the Platform due to the said cancellation.

What to Expect

In the longer term, the new rules will bring in a change in a way that solves the concerns that were lingering before the New rules came into force. Despite the uncertainty, the new rules are looking out for a better future for the e-commerce industry.

These New Rules are a welcome step in ensuring the welfare and protection of the interests of consumers using the various e-commerce platforms.

Since November 2021, the rules have been notified by the ministry, and this wave of the new e-commerce rules has come in just in time when we observe exponential, consistent growth of startups and small businesses. Online platforms have provided a much-needed shift from a B2B mindset to a B2C one, getting into a digital ecosystem beyond the geographical limits.

This blog is a precursor to another blog of the series, titled ‘13 Reasons Why: New E-commerce Rules Haunt Businesses: Flipside of the Coin.’ Watch out for more in this space.

Some of the solutions to the problem:

• Women want to be in a formalised working environment. The workforce in blue collar jobs, labour and marginalised communities of women to be given opportunities.
• More women Entrepreneurs are needed that will create more opportunities for all but especially women.
• To recruit more women, the job postings should be more inclusive.
• Initiate schemes for skilling, upskilling, and reskilling for women returning back to work along with psychological support.
• Strategic need to have a DE&I policy in place; ensure the execution to nurture a diverse, resilient workplace.
• Creating women’s workforce support bodies, and awareness programs that can bridge the wider gap between the problems and solutions.
• Flexible working options and gender equality policies will be encouraging. 

As it was famously said, “When you educate a man, you educate a person, but when you educate a woman, you educate an entire generation.” The same applies to empowering women to find their footing in organised employment. We think the saying, in this case, would go like this, “When you employ a man, you empower a person, but when you employ a woman, you empower the many generations.”

If we fail at the inclusion of women in the workforce, we will be losing on economic growth and sustainable development, Let’s #BreaktheBarrier with a better platform, numerous opportunities for women as we celebrate International women’s day and bring into practice what we preach.

Here are a few tips to notice and keep the impact of these ugly possibilities in check.

Tip 1: Make the Funding Last

Being flush with funds after a long time of counting pennies can be a huge relief. Sometimes, too much of a relief that can lead to a feeling of having achieved the final goal and splurging on any and every idea. Getting the funding is hard, but not the hardest part of being a startup, especially if the solution is valuable in the market and differentiated from what already exists. It is better to be slow and steady than fast and furious in the startup race circuit. Look at Five Star Finance, which achieved Unicorn status with only USD 200 Mn in funding and took 37 years to reach here.

Tip 2: Prioritise Fund Allocation

So, if you have gotten funding, stop and think about what the critical elements are that need to be funded to stretch the money as far as possible. After all, given enough time, all good ideas can reach their full potential. Spending too much, too fast, on too many non-critical elements is a cardinal sin for a startup. Most of the startups get this step wrong because they start believing that their funding proves that they know better than the market. See how Snapdeal floundered without a clear focus on the critical elements for success. Also, Hike was erstwhile hailed as the youngest startup to get Unicorn status but it lost its path in a labyrinth of features, which reinforces the need to get the basics right.

Tip 3: Focus on Speed of Scale

If anything is critical at a startup, it is the acquisition of new customers at a pace faster than the market and competition. This is one of the critical elements that funding has to be pumped into. A deep dive into the cost of acquisition is pivotal for consistent progress. Look at how Amazon is still in this mode of growing their audience base at the cost of never having shown a profit to date, but no one is complaining because they are way ahead of the competition and still increasing the gap.

Tip 4: Think and Stay OpEx

Being flush with money is empowering, but funding money is not real money. The funding is a loan from your own future, so be ready to answer to your future self if you don’t think through every expense. Hence, it is a good idea to spend as little as possible on a recurring basis rather than making large one-time capital expenditures that can deplete the funds faster and shorten the runway that is required for a startup to grow its wings. We are yet to see how the series of acquisitions by BYJU’s scripts their exit story.

Tip 5: Never Lose Flexibility

It is important for a startup to experiment. After all, every startup is an experiment in itself. So, before the startup forms a reasonably resilient structure, it will have to try out different bones and joints to find its core, particularly in terms of recruitment. This flexibility can be in terms of the number of seats required, employment to be provided, the kind of skill sets needed in every phase of its early life, or even the kind of HR tools and processes. Most startups appreciate the benefits of contract staffing for managing the manpower needs as per employment seasonality in growth cycles.

Conclusion

While this nuclear explosion of startups and unicorns in India seems promising, the future may come with a looming risk of apparent congruence. The startup ecosystem, especially in the e-commerce space, is driving the growth engine for job creation and has bolstered at least 650,000 lakh jobs. What’s more? We are creating new benchmarks for ourselves.

Having been a startup ourselves that went for IPO not so long ago, we have always worked closely with the startup ecosystem and are currently serving over 20 Unicorns from only one of our business units. With this evolving experience of working with multiple startups and unicorns across industries, we have seen and solved their challenges from up close. We have seen the exhilarating feeling when one piece of the puzzle fits into place and have been party to the pain when a simple overlooked idea causes a disruption down the line.

TeamLease offers end-to-end people supply chain products and solutions that help startups to add & augment flexible staffing to their business at a low-cost opex model, making them nimble and responsive to the fast-changing market requirements. Our belief is that every startup needs a fighting chance, and in providing it, we want to become their partner of choice for staffing and employment-related offerings and grow with them.

Growing demand:
E-commerce companies in India reported sales of $4.1 billion across platforms in the festival season of October 2021 (driven by increased demand for smartphones). Of the total sales, 55 percent were generated from Tier II cities, suggesting untapped demand in the underserved areas of India.

Policy support:
The government guidelines on allowing 100 percent FDI in B2B e-commerce as well as the automatic route in the marketplace e-commerce model offer a positive business environment.

Increasing investments:
E-commerce and consumer internet companies in India received more than $4.32 billion from private equity and venture capital players, which will further support and consolidate the industry.

New e-commerce and social commerce start-ups are coming up to fulfil the e-commerce and online shopping demand in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. It’s also opening up opportunities for cottage industries and entrepreneurs in a big way, and this includes the most marginalised sections and women. All this is creating an inclusive ecosystem of jobs in India for both highly qualified and skilled professionals, as well as those with minimal qualifications.

Apart from logistics and warehousing jobs, the requirements of user analytics, data mining, and cybersecurity functions, the e-tail industry is in dire need of specialised and customised e-commerce centric products and services to fulfil these requirements.

This transformation calls for skilled IT and ITeS professionals, data scientists, warehouse workers, supply chain managers, delivery persons, customer service executives, and call centre operators. The market is teeming with jobs for people right from software product development to web architects, user interface designers, analytics experts, and data miners, among others.

Along with the increased demand for skilled and unskilled blue-collar workforce in logistics, warehousing, and supply chain,E-tail is also generating growth in allied industries like fintech, marketing, and advertising, amongst others. The sector has had a significant impact on entrepreneurship and start-up culture and is helping SMEs, handicraft workers, artisans, and women earn a livelihood.

E-commerce players are experimenting with various kinds of engagement models including temporary and contractual employment during peak season, as well as permanent positions for more professional services.

This is leading to a transformation in the lives of blue-collar workers, helping people build careers from a range of varied skills.

The future of e-commerce:
The e-commerce industry has been directly impacting micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by providing means of financing, technology, and training and has a favourable cascading effect on other industries as well. The Indian e-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory and is expected to surpass the US to become the second largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034.

The growth in the e-commerce sector will also boost employment, increase revenues from exports, increase tax collection by exchequers, and provide better products and services to customers in the long-term. Smartphone usage is expected to rise 84 percent to reach 859 million by 2022. The e-retail market is expected to continue its strong growth; it registered a CAGR of over 35 percent to reach ₹1.8 trillion. Over the next five years, the Indian e-retail industry is projected to be around 350 million shoppers, propelling the online gross merchandise value to $100–120 billion by 2026.

Disclaimer: This article was first published on The Hindu BusinessLine. No changes to the content has been made.

The recent Employment Outlook Report for Q3 FY22 by TeamLease Services has indicated a 61% intent to hire for this industry in the ongoing Q3 (Oct-Dec 2021). Here are a few key shifts in the employment outlook for the sector:

• Temporary workforce demand during the pandemic increased by almost 30% – 33% as per reports with the constant need for more staff both physically and virtually.
• Other than traditional skill sets, the pharma industry is also keen on recruiting candidates with technical competencies in IT, AI, Cybersecurity, and allied sectors.
• Ensure a high-quality skilled workforce to optimise manufacturing.
• Skilled-based jobs as health tech professionals that will develop the working and operations of the telemedicine network are on the rise.
• Almost 20 – 22% hiring demand for doctors & nurses, virtual & homecare facilities across speciality & super speciality segments as per reports. The largest growth is expected in the patient care segment.

For more insights, download the free version of the TeamLease Employment Outlook Report for Q3 FY22.

• Hiring Needs and Patterns – Witnessing an 8% jump in FMCG Sector’s intent to hire for this quarter at 59%, the top cities like Delhi and Bengaluru leading in hiring for Sales Roles extensively. WFH Profiles for Business Continuity is a bleak option for this sector but with the ebbing of the second wave, the outlook is positive as festivities galore.
• Adoption of Digital Tools Processes by organisations – Pandemic forced digital literacy enabled and enforced positive outlook plus adoption of technology shifts for operational management. At TeamLease, 55% Hirings during FY21 were done through digital mode.
• Demand for Sales Roles –  As per Jobs & Salaries Primer 2021, Salary Growth for Brand Manager was recorded at 8.34% followed by Business Coordinator profiles. While it has been seen that demand for sales roles in the FMCG Sector has touched a high of 34% for Q3.
• A surge in Upskilling and Training initiatives by organisations – Around 84% of respondents echoed that the upskilling initiatives have helped them get a better job/position.
• Adoption of Formalisation GAPS – The industry is moving towards Channel Salesforce Effectiveness with formalisation to watch out for GAPS – Ghost employees elimination, Attrition reduction, Productivity enhancement through tech, Statutory Compliance in light of the imminent rollout of labour codes.

For more insights on hiring intent, download the full version of TeamLease Employment Outlook Report for Q3 FY22.

They say the best time to plant the tree was 20 years ago and the second-best time is now. The country has created an India Stack, which has laid the foundation for a fintech revolution. It is a set of national APIs for payments, identity, KYC, e-signature, and document verification that has been scaled to a billion people. One of the key reasons why so many fintech firms have mushroomed in the last couple of years can be attributed to the widespread use and adoption of the India stack. UPI payments surpassing Debit Card transactions is the biggest testament to this. These have made me believe that we are going to see an unprecedented growth in the Financial sector in India and this will have a direct impact on the organization’s hiring capabilities. Needless to mention the role of Temp Staffing as the Financial Services sector is the largest adopter of staffing in India.

As a practitioner, I have closely observed the impact of COVID 19 and seen how the industry has coped up with this. Some of the key points for the future of work of the BFSI Sector:

Hiring Needs and Patterns – BFSI emerged as the top paymaster at double-digit salary growth while the sector’s intent to hire @ 36% for Q2. Financialization is leading to increased demand from the BFSI sector.

Adoption of digital tools processes by organisations – Pandemic forced digital literacy enabled and enforced positive outlook plus adoption of technology shifts for operational management. At TeamLease, 55% Hirings during FY2021 were done through digital mode.

Demand for Asset Sales and Tech roles – Analyst, Budgeting Manager based roles recorded high growth as per Jobs & Salaries Primer 2021, Asset Sales Executive (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance | 8.20%) & Sourcing Manager (BPO and IT enabled Services | 7.36%) asserted the respective salary growths for this fiscal. .

A surge in Upskilling and Training initiatives by organisations – Around 84% of respondents echoed that the upskilling initiatives have helped them get a better job/position.

Festive Hiring in logistics, food delivery, manufacturing, e-commerce, and automobile companies is expected to increase by 30 to 35 percent during the upcoming festive season. Almost three lakh temporary and gig jobs are expected to be generated during the upcoming festival period, from Diwali to Christmas”, as per the prediction of an Industry Expert who informed the India Staffing Federation. Almost 3 lakhs temporary and gig jobs are expected to be generated during the festive season this year, according to Farhan Azmi, Vice President, Indian Staffing Federation. Teamlease’s latest Employment Outlook Report Q2 FY22 showed 43% hiring intent for blue-collar jobs which may be an amalgamation of factors like the easing of clampdowns and restrictions, festive demand, or a positive economic outlook. Driven by the increasing adoption of digital platforms, retailers, e-commerce companies, logistics, etc.; the hiring for temporary staffing is also expected to see a sizable growth as companies ramp up their last-mile connectivity in order to meet the seasonal demand.

If the trends of last year are to be considered, hiring for blue-collar jobs had seen a spike of 27% over August-October 2020 (Research from Betterplace, a tech platform that manages the lifecycles of informal and semi-formal workforces). The demand was generated primarily from the e-commerce and logistics sectors, retail, and healthcare; which coincided with the onset of festivals. The nation is going through a revival and the hiring trends are indicating a sustained recovery in business activity after the impact of Covid-19. In 2021, the Indian job market registered an 11% growth in July over June when it grew 15%. The growth bolstered by a recovery in the travel & tourism, hotel & hospitality, retail & recreation sectors has further pushed the hiring market. As quoted by an article in Business Standard – Out of the 11% quarter-on-quarter growth; Information Technology (61 per cent), Financial Services (48 per cent), and BPO/ITeS (47 per cent) have shown standout growth.

Liberalisation of the Indian economy and the entry of mncs in the last couple of decades have provided the much-needed thrust to this segment. This followed with several foreign (global) flexi-staffing companies setting up their base in India in the last couple of decades or so to explore the growing opportunities across various sectors. The Adecco group from Zurich, Switzerland, the largest staffing firm in the world and a Fortune Global 500 company already has its presence in India. Besides, there are other global players like the Gi group from Italy; Randstad Holding nv, Kelly Services Inc and Manpower group, who have been expanding their footprint in India.

Role of MNCs

“Apart from other favourable factors, MNCs have played a big role in popularising flexi-staffing in India. They have been aware of the benefits in their experiences in other countries. The opportunity to concentrate on core areas as non-core areas are taken care of by experts, benefits of scale, long-term cost benefits and a responsible employer image. There is also a flexibility of employment and ease of recruitment and replacements. In addition to this, statutory complexities are also taken care of by the staffing company,” says Dutta.

“The Indian economy has undergone a transformation. The concept of flexi-staffing has taken shape in India as well. However, the potential is huge keeping in mind the demand-supply dynamics. Currently, most of the industry is in the informal segment. But the demand for organised supply is forcing the industry to organise itself in a big way and that will help the entire industry to acquire a much better shape in coming years,” says Asim Handa, ceo, Gi group (India).

The €1.6 billion Italian company, one of the largest staffing firms in the world, entered the Indian flexi-staffing market in 2009, by forming a JV firm, Gi Staffing Services Pvt Ltd (GiSS) with Elixir Web Solutions Pvt Ltd, a leading RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) and executive search firm. The Gi group has in excess of 280,000 employees in over 400 branches, servicing around 14,200 clients across the globe, operating in the fields of temporary and permanent employment, in the recruitment and selection of personnel, in outsourcing, training, outplacement and executive search.

GiSS, with its focus on compliance and accountability, established a robust base in India with offices in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Dehradun. The Rs.200 crore Indian entity, which currently has a manpower offering of around 15,000 people, serves the domestic industry across sectors with a focus on telecom, manufacturing, it and fmcg (90 per cent placement). The company, which has grown at a cagr of around 20 per cent in the last five years, is looking at opening up more offices in India.

“The Indian market is evolving and this presents a huge opportunity for players in the staffing industry. In the next couple of years, we are looking to more than double our capacity as the market is on the verge of a major traction. We are seriously evaluating inorganic expansion venues since the market is consolidating itself in order to achieve a greater degree of stability and maturity,” adds Handa.

The €22 billion Adecco group, the world’s largest staffing company, has also ramped up its operations in India. In 2004 the Swiss company, which has around 5,100 branches in over 60 countries, acquired a 67 per cent stake (for around Rs.60 crore) in Bengaluru-based PeopleOne Consulting India. PeopleOne Consulting was started in 2000 by Ajit Isaac with an equity investment from J P Morgan Partners and another financial investor. Adecco’s acquisition had included the 20 per cent stake that J P Morgan held in PeopleOne, and the rest from promoters and individual investors.

Pursuing its expansion spree, Adecco India acquired Ajinkya, India’s leading blue-collar temping company. The first of its kind organised acquisition in this space allows Adecco a significant footprint in the burgeoning market for blue collar temping in India and further consolidates its local market leadership. Incidentally, globally Adecco is the market leader in the blue collar temping market with a majority of its revenues coming from it. The Mumbai-based Ajinkya was a niche staffing company focussed on blue collar temping with over 150 reputed clients and 4,500-plus outsourced manpower.

Currently, the Rs.1,500 crore Adecco India, headquartered in Bengaluru, boasts around 100,000 associates with a distinguished list of over 3,700 clients across segments including retail, FMCG, telecom, pharma, IT, media & entertainment, agriculture, dairy, engineering & manufacturing, automobiles, aviation, logistics, garment & fashion, healthcare and education. The company, with end-to-end HR solutions, has a branch network across over 55 cities.

Helping employers

Randstad, the world’s second-largest hr service provider, is a Dutch multinational hr consulting firm headquartered in Diemen, Netherlands. Randstad India is a division of Randstad Holding NV. Its inception was in 1992 as Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd, a Chennai-based hr service provider, which merged with the Dutch HR provider – Vedior NV in 2004. In 2005/2006, with two back-to-back acquisitions of Indian recruitment companies – EmmayHR and Teams4U, Randstad stamped its entry in India. Randstad Holding NV acquired the operations of Ma Foi, through its 2007 acquisition of Vedio; and named its Indian operations Ma Foi Randstad in 2010. Eventually in April 2012, it was rebranded as Randstad India which currently boasts a revenue of around Rs.1,400 crore and over 60,000 associates.

“Flexi-staffing enables organisations to face economic cycles in a more effective manner. With government initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’, more jobs will be created in the lower and mid-sections, adding further impetus to contract staffing and formalising the workforce. India can very well beat other countries with the sheer size of temporary staff employed in the organised sector within the next decade,” says Moorthy K. Uppaluri, CEO, Randstad India.

“The flexi-staffing industry helps an employer to adjust manpower according to demand dynamics. It enables a company to promptly adjust its workforce with seasonal or unforeseen changes in demand. For companies that are growing rapidly and which need quick augmentation of workforce, flexi-staffing presents a very efficient model,” states A.G. Rao, trustee, Indian Staffing Federation, and group managing director, ManpowerGroup India, which has over 45,000 staffing associates (revenue: Rs.800 crore, 2015).

ManpowerGroup (formerly known as ManPower Inc) is an American multinational human resource consulting firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The world’s largest it staffing company entered India and expanded its presence by acquiring three divisions of Indian hr consulting and recruitment firm ABC Consultants to form a local joint venture Manpower India in 2005. In 2012, it acquired Kolkata-based Web Development Company (WDC). An it services and professional resourcing company, WDC would offer consulting, development and application support services to several large clients in India and across the Asia-Pacific region.

“For the Indian staffing sector, there are pretty exciting years ahead. The kind of skilled manpower pool that it has got, makes India a very favourable destination for all of us. Most of the companies in this sector are looking to expand their businesses in the coming years,” says Shiv Nath Ghosh, country director and senior vice-president of US -based Artech Infosystems. Present in India for over 20 years, Artech, with over 2,300 associates, is among the top five it staffing companies in India.

While major foreign hr and staffing companies have set up their base in India, domestic staffing companies have also seen phenomenal growth. Currently, the top ranked home grown staffing company is TeamLease Services with a revenue of around Rs.2,200 crore. Established in 2002, the company currently employs around 115,000 associates across over 1,200 companies (5,500 locations) in India. Backed by private equity funds Gaja Capital and ICICI Venture’s India Advantage Fund (IAF), TeamLease went public (IPO) early this year to raise Rs.500 crore. Despite subdued market conditions, the IPO generated an encouraging response having been subscribed a little over 66 times.

Indian companies

“Our performance has been well reflected in our recent IPO. It also indicates that investors are quite bullish on this space and India is well poised for exponential growth in the coming years. As a company, we have grown at a CAGR of over 20 per cent in the last five years,” says Rituparna Chakraborty, cofounder and senior vice-president, TeamLease Services. In fact, the second ranked company in the domestic market is also Indian – Quess Corp. Its Rs.400 crore IPO in July this year got an overwhelming response from investors, with the issue getting subscribed 144 times, the highest for an Indian ipo in nine years. Quess Corp is a business services provider in which 69.55 per cent stake is owned by Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, which, in turn, is owned by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (ffhl). ffhl owns a 67.82 per cent stake in Thomas Cook. Quess, India’s leading integrated business services provider was established in 2007. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company has a pan-India presence with 52 offices across 27 cities, as well as operations in North America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Powered by around 120,000 associates, it serves over 1,300 customers across four segments – global technology solutions, people & services, integrated facility management and industrial asset management. The company, which completed nine successful acquisitions in the last eight years, reported a revenue of around Rs.3,442 crore in fiscal year 2016.

“No doubt, the Indian staffing industry is at an influx point with huge potential for growth going ahead. All the micro and macro indicators are in the favourable zone, and hence it has been able to attract huge investments and efforts. The process will only gain further momentum in the coming years as the industry gets more organised,” says Farhan Azmi, chairman and managing director, FuturZ Staffing Solutions. Mumbai-based, R250 crore FuturZ Staffing Solutions has been in existence since 2008 and is among the top ten staffing firms in India with an associate size of over 15,000 people with a focus on blue-collar jobs across various sectors like it, ITeS, manufacturing, and e-commerce. Apart from major Indian cities, the company also operates in overseas destinations, including the UK and Philippines.

“In developed countries like the US, UK, and Japan, flexible staffing is an enabler for initial employment. The Indian market has now accepted flexi-staffing and I am sure it will continue as an enabler to create huge employment for the young,” says R.P. Yadav, CMD of Kolkata-based Genius Consultants (revenue: Rs.550 crore), which in the last couple of decades has emerged as one of the major players (ranking 7th) in the domestic market with 45,000 associates and 16 offices across India.

Changes needed

“Corporate India now needs to respond quicker to transient, seasonal, and structural volatility in fast-paced business dynamics. A mechanism needs to evolve to address transitory manpower needs and minimise the search cost and time in recruiting activities. Increased competitive pressure also makes it imperative to focus on core activities and optimal utilisation of resources. This is where staffing sector will play its role,” states Mehul Shah, MD, Collabera India, which is a part of the Rs.550 million Collabera Inc, and one of the major it staffing firms in India. The company has proactively been engaged in creating a pool of technology manpower through various training programmes.

“Labour laws have to be calibrated to address the service sector-dominated economy (currently accounting for more than 60 per cent of India’s GDP), new technology intensive manufacturing sector and transient demand for high skill manpower. It is high time that we brought about the much-needed changes in our labour laws and facilitate the growth of the staffing sector in a meaningful manner,” says Narayan Bhargava, chairman, NSB group.

“The labour laws should reflect the needs, aspirations and realities of the current economic and business environment. Keeping this in mind we have to carry out the required modifications. There should be consolidation and simplification of laws governing terms and conditions of employment,” adds Vikram Wadhawan, founder and CEO, Maven Workforce.

Experts are of the view that a conducive atmosphere against a backdrop of suitable changes in the existing laws, will pave the way for a more developed market for flexi-staffing. It is high time that the sector, which has been contributing significantly to the economy, is given due recognition by according it an industry status. The globalisation of the Indian economy has brought to the fore the need for flexibility and adoptability in our organisational set-up and that is where flexi-staffing is going to play a crucial role. The concept, in its formal structure, is fast catching up in India and the country is emerging as a major force in the global business. Our favourable demographics, where 50 per cent of our population is below the age of 25, will be a driving factor.

This article was published in Business India Magazine

Ajoy Thomas, business head (retail, e-commerce, logistics & transportation) at TeamLease Services, said that additional hiring of two to three lakh staff is likely across profiles such as delivery staff, packers, data entry operators, tele-callers, and business developers.

“Hiring in logistics, food delivery, manufacturing, e-commerce, and automobiles companies is expected to increase by 30 to 35 per cent during the upcoming festive season. Almost three lakh temporary and gig jobs are expected to be generated during the upcoming festival period, from Diwali to Christmas”, as per the prediction of an Industry Expert who informed the India Staffing Federation.

India will celebrate 100 years of Independence in 2047. We are at the cusp of a structural reform fuelled by the pandemic digital literacy oil, and it is reflective of the policy changes from education to labour to PLI schemes. The policy agenda is clear. Economic policy must raise the productivity of our regions, sectors, firms, and individuals to reach goals in formalisation. India@100 now in sight, can we combine this democracy with mass prosperity in the next 25 years?

Read the Employment Outlook Report Q2 FY22 for detailed industry insights

Distribution 4.0 – Reimagining FMCG Distribution for 2030

The evolution of distributor models from the generic push from manufacturer to end consumer with channel partners to deploying sales reps to categories and SKUs, thereafter culminating in inventory tracking systems plus outsourcing sales reps for better performance and coverage in General Trade (GT) and Modern Trade (MT) paved the way for necessary interventions.

Given that FMCG and FMCD companies are at the vantage point where they are staring at a major disruption in their existing distribution models, the pertinent issues of distributors are forcing the FMCG/CD companies to massively expand their scale and reach in terms of presence and workforce. Essentially, this resulted in increased adoption of technology and an effective plan for workforce management for both core and temporary employees.

So, what could FMCG companies do as they plan for the next decade? If we fast forward to 2030, the overall retail in India is expected to double to $1.5 trillion from today’s $700bn, and while it is difficult to predict how large each retail channel will be, we can expect GT’s share in overall retail, though still dominant, to come down to 50% (from today’s 85-90%). In addition, many GT/Kiranas in Metros and Tier 1 & 2 cities are expected to upgrade to look and feel more like MT, a trend that is already prevalent. MT will continue to grow and could have a share of 25-30% by 2030, driven by its expansion into Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities with different formats and sizes. E-comm could easily account for 15-20% of total retail by 2030 (our research shows that it accounts for almost 50% of retail in China today) driven by higher smartphone and internet penetration, growth of digital & mobile payments, and expanding logistics infrastructure

The scenario, which is more likely, will be the game-changer. It will require Consumer Goods companies to give up the ownership of the distribution model, and partner with multiple players for the best market coverage between urban and rural markets, focusing their efforts on marketing, branding and in-store merchandising to create a best-in-class shopper experience (“retailtainment”). In this scenario, they are likely to partner with aggregators, e-commerce delivery companies, rural distribution companies, and distribution arms of modern trade to drive coverage.

As per Jobs and Salaries Primer Report 2021, with new-age businesses, various hot and upcoming jobs in the space are making entries like Digital Tailor and Virtual Store Sherpa, Customer Experience Leader, 3D Designer, Communications Manager, Sales Consultant for Virtual Brands and numerous other well-paying roles in metro cities.

Click here to read the full report covering all data points and insights

After the pandemic-induced wretched employment scenario resulting from mass employee layoffs and economic uncertainty last year, things are finally beginning to look up this year as far as India Inc’s intent to hire across industries and skill sets is concerned. Aided by the government’s much-improved vaccination policy over the last couple of months and it’s balancing act between ensuring strict adherence to Covid protocols and allowing periodic relaxations from stringent restrictions at the same time, the Indian economy is much better prepared on its road to recovery than it was last year. Favorable growth forecasts ranging from 11.5% by the IMF to 12.8% by OECD and FITCH have only bolstered business sentiments and hiring intent in India for the next few months.

A look at the current trends and sentiments across some of the emerging sectors, rather re-emerging sectors post Covid second wave, like – Agriculture & Agrochemicals (increasing demand for agricultural inputs and allied services along with initiation of PMKSY), Construction & Real Estate (government focus on ensuring affordable housing and demand for commercial office spaces steadily growing again), Automobile & Auto Ancillary (growing awareness about social distancing resulting in increased demand for private vehicles in order to avoid public transport and the booming Logistics & E-commerce sectors leading to increased demand for commercial vehicles) as well as Energy & Infrastructure (Energy heavyweights like Adani, ReNew Power and Shapoorji Pallonji investing huge in India’s renewable energy space and government’s increased focus on highways and road projects, metro rail projects and dedicated freight corridors) indicates that there is a definite need to hire increased manpower in these sectors over the next 6 months or so to address the demand-supply gap resulting from an increased government spending along with a business and consumption friendly budget announced earlier this year.

The steady revival in commercial activities in these sectors is likely to sustain the growing demand for entry and junior level jobs which will see the biggest share of hiring across the hierarchy in these re-emerging sectors. With improved Covid vaccine and testing facilities becoming accessible to more and more people and acting as a consumer confidence booster, the Indian workforce is readying itself to return to the workplace and TeamLease on its part is ready as ever with its rich and immensely effective manpower database to help Corporate India not only achieve but beat pre-Pandemic growth levels.

Now the big question is how equipped, rather, how digitally equipped, is India Inc. to be able to benefit from the vast resource pool available at its disposal? There is no debating the fact that digitisation of HR processes (none more important than attracting & retaining top talent) is the need of the hour if an organisation wants to overcome the challenges posed by the Covid crisis and stay ahead of its competitors with an eye on healthy financials. As per Jobs and Salaries Primer Report 2021, with states recognising agricultural activity as essential and allowing it during lockdowns, the sector is accelerating its way back to pre-Covid levels. Whereas, the prevailing uncertainty ensures that the Automobile and Allied Industries slowly inch back on their path to post-Covid recovery. The second wave has spelt mixed fortunes for the Construction and Real Estate sector as some states have halted activity even while some others have not. The sector does better than the slump of the previous year, though.

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