TeamLease sees traction in recruitment by pharma companies resulting from attrition and expansion. The temporary staffing major has estimated an average salary hike in FY’16-17 to range between 11-13 per cent across functions.

Hiring sales & marketing teams will continue to dominate. Manufacturing is expected to see a spike in head count as multinational companies are looking to expand in India. Government initiatives towards ‘Make in India’ and Pharma Vision 2020 will boost Greenfield and Brownfield projects. Hiring in R&D is also expected to see some momentum.

The growth story of pharma remains intact. Generic drugs and over-the-counter (OTC) segments are the key performers. The current downturn on exports is due to change in regulatory framework and this impact would be interim, Hussain Tinwala, assistant vice president, Permanent Staffing – EMPI TeamLease Services, told Pharmabiz.

Companies would keep investing in talent, innovation and manufacturing from a long-term perspective. Pharma talent is in demand and some skills are difficult to replace. Home grown talent is an asset to any organisation and employees who have done well will see a good return during increments, he added.

TeamLease’s Jobs & Salaries Primer Report – 2016-2017, noted that innovation captures the imagination of many a sector resulting in a 15 per cent increase in the number of new types of jobs being generated.

According to Tinwala, innovation is the key to boost the Make in India initiative. The pharma sector had stopped investing in drug discovery, due to high investments and failures in advanced trials. Now the government is enabling reforms and funds to expand drug discovery which would further boost manufacturing. Hiring in R&D and labs would see a boost. These would be at junior management levels with an average experience of 3 to 4years.

Overall, innovation through imagination is the future roadmap to attract promising candidates in pharmaceuticals. TeamLease noted that job drivers include the $640 million venture capital fund to boost drug discovery and strengthen pharmaceutical infrastructure.

Government through various schemes is encouraging pharma companies by providing infrastructure support and promote drug discovery. These initiatives are evolved towards building India as largest pharma manufacturer by 2020. The government’s recent plan to promote local API production by curbing bulk drug import from China is a great move to promote API manufacturing in India. As per Pharmexcil, 60 per cent of India’s API demand is met by China. Now we need speedy clearances to establish API manufacturing, he said.

There is also a huge demand for blue collar workers in pharma industry in the manufacturing departments. With MNC’s leveraging on low cost labour and manufacturing, the Indian drug production segment is up for a fast track growth and this would increase demand for blue collar workers YoY, said Tinwala.