New Delhi, Apr 13 (IANS): India Incs talent demand in March recorded a dip of five per cent month-on-month and two per cent year-on-year, said a report on Monday.

The findings of the TimesJobsRecruiteX report suggest that hiring activities among companies in India has already started taking a backseat due to the disruptions driven by COVID-19.

This is despite that fact that the year 2020 started on a cheerful note for India Inc. with the overall talent demand registering 12 per cent month-on-month growth in January.

However, as the coronavirus pandemic spread quickly in the country, most industries started operating remotely and the talent demand in February 2020 noted a dip.

In March 2020, the talent demand dropped further owing to the nation-wide lockdown.

"The COVID-19 spread has brought in uncertain times that none of us had ever thought or imagined earlier," Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig, said in a statement.

Only three sectors - retail, accounting and IT/telecom -- saw improvements in the study.

The retail sector noted six per cent rise, the accounting sector registered five per cent growth and the IT/telecom sector witnessed two per cent uptick in month-on-month talent demand.

Barring these, all other sectors including construction/cement (-17 per cent), automobiles/auto component (-8 per cent), petrochemicals/oil and gas (-7 per cent) -- saw a dip in talent demand, said the TimesJobsRecruiteX report which is a monthly recruitment index.

Except Hyderabad/Secunderabad which saw 16 per cent growth in talent demand in March, all other cities, including Chandigarh (-30 per cent), Ahmedabad (-15 per cent) Vadodara (-12 per cent) witnessed a slump in talent demand, said the report.