Even as Indian corporates resort to lay-offs to cut costs, many fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are actively hiring to handle their expanding operations in sales, infrastructure and production departments.
While Bisleri International is adding manpower to manage its expanding manufacturing operations, Dabur India is on a hiring spree to manage its extended sales services and rural expansion programmes.
FMCG company Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is hiring in accordance with its expansion plans in sales, production, IT and human resources sections.
After increasing its sales and distribution by 40% to support new launches, Parle Agro has been recruiting people to handle its growing operations in the last few months.
?Home-grown FMCG companies are now aggressively recruiting to manage their growing operations, especially family owned businesses. Also, these companies can now hire efficient people at affordable costs – with the economic downturn,? said an in industry analyst with a domestic brokerage.
On GCPL?s recruitment plans, chairman Adi Godrej said: ?As we need more people to manage our growing operations in domestic and global markets, we are recruiting people. With our expansion in rural and urban India, we are hiring in four disciplines ? sales, information technology, human resources and production.?
Like GCPL, Dabur India is also beefing up its sales and rural expansion plans. ?We are in the mode of recruiting people as we are expanding our operations. We are now growing at the rate of 17% in domestic markets and 30% in international markets. With our expansion strategy in place, we are now hiring people,? said Amit Burman, vice-chairman of Dabur India.
The R1,85,000-crore Indian FMCG industry, which registered a 15% growth in 2012 , will witness hectic hiring in the next few months as companies are chalking out expansion plans despite the economic slowdown.
To manage its expansion in manufacturing facilities, Bisleri International is recruiting people across the country, said company chairman Ramesh Chauhan.
?We are setting up new factories to meet growing demands for Bisleri; we posted a 20% growth last fiscal,? he added.
After re-entering the cola drinks market with the launch of ?Cuba Cafe?, Parle Agro has competed the first round of hiring. ?We have boosted our sales, distribution and infra by 40% this year. To support our new launches, we have hired many people. The slowdown has not impacted categories that fall under impulse purchase segment,? Parle Agro joint managing director Nadia Chauhan said.
Yet another FMCG company, Emami, is hiring people to manage its expansion plans in rural as well as urban India. Emami director Harsh Agarwal said: ?We are hiring people where we need manpower strategically, but are cautious.?
While layoffs are rampant in infra sectors with leading names like GVK, GMR and DLF reducing staff strength, Indian FMCG industry continues to recruit despite the economic downturn.
