Pharma industry in the country is anticipating a hiring freeze in the coming months with 11 per cent recruiters bringing selection process to a standstill in coming quarters, according to a survey by the Naukri.com, India’s No. 1 job site and the flagship brand of Info Edge.

The overall economic crunch has resulted in companies adopting a cautious approach in their hiring plans. A survey with recruiters from the pharma sector revealed a drop in overall hiring sentiment. 51 per cent recruiters are expecting to add new jobs in the second half of 2012 which is 16 per cent lower than what was predicted by them in Jan-2012 survey. Similarly, in Jan-12 none of the recruiters had predicted a hiring freeze in 2012, while now 11 per cent recruiters are saying that hiring will come to a halt in the next six months, the survey indicated.

On the increment front given out to employees in 2012, 59 per cent said that the range was within 10 per cent to 15 per cent and about 25 per cent said that increments given out were less than 10 per cent. Talent crunch seems to be an important issue being faced by recruiters in the pharma sector as 73 per cent said that it is very difficult to find talent suitable for a job profile, reports the survey.

According to Sumeet Singh, senior VP marketing and communications, Info Edge India, although the overall hiring activity in the pharma sector has been moving at a steady pace in the first half of the year, recruiters are now preferring to adopt a cautious wait and watch mode in the coming quarters.

A deeper analysis of the job scenario for the sector shows that about 33 per cent jobs created in the pharma sector in 2012 are from Mumbai, 12 per cent from Hyderabad and 11 per cent from Bengaluru. Most job openings in the sector are for jobseekers with three to five years of experience levels, stated the survey.

Naukri.com is a recruitment platform that provides hiring-related services to corporates/ recruiters, placement agencies and to job seekers in India and overseas. It offers multiple products like Resume Database Access, and Response Management tools and its services include Job Postings, and recruiter branding solutions on the site. The company has over 2000+ people operating through 49 offices in 32 cities in India and overseas offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Bahrain.