New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS): Hiring in the Indian IT sector slowed down by 18 per cent in the month of October compared to last year, a report showed on Tuesday.

With the IT sector showing a decline, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune showed a decline in hiring activity, according to the Naukri JobSpeak index.

Apart from IT, other sectors that recorded a notable decline in hiring sentiments included telecom and healthcare.

Despite the festive season, India saw a stable though flat hiring in other industries in October, led by the insurance sector.

The insurance sector in India continued to witness phenomenal growth due to an increase in demand for professionals across experience bands. The sector registered a significant growth of 93 per cent (year-on-year).

Other sectors that continued to show upward hiring trends are BFSI, oil, travel and hospitality, real estate and auto.

"The temporary deceleration in hiring activity was expected given the festive season, however when you compare the data with last year's festive window (November 2021), the Index is a healthy 13 per cent ahead which is reassuring," said Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com.

While Kolkata and Mumbai continued to grow in hiring activity, Delhi stayed flat.

While demand across experience professionals stayed neutral, senior professionals with over 13 years of experience saw an uptick in demand, the report showed.

At the same time, demand for freshers stayed flat while the demand for mid-level professionals (4-12 years) declined by 4 per cent.

"It is also interesting to note that most key industries maintained hiring expansion during this month which is likely to only get stronger as year-end approaches," said Goyal.