India Inc’s hiring spree may continue in the New Year despite an exponential surge in the number of cases of the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus since the past one week, company executives and job market experts have said.

The latest Teamlease Employment Outlook Report shows that recruitment plans of companies in India is at a seven-quarter high in January-March, the highest since the start of the covid pandemic, as companies are “bullish” about the next financial year on the back of rising vaccination coverage, robust economic indicators, and a strong belief about a better ability to combat new Covid-19 waves, ET reported.

Economists, job market experts and top officials of companies across sectors including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Lupin, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Deloitte, told ET that hiring is likely to remain unaffected by the Omicron variant.

As per the Teamlease survey, 50% companies showed an intent to hire this quarter against 27% companies a year ago. The number was down to the lowest in 2020, when only about 18% companies showed an intent to hire during the June and September quarters.

The survey covered about 850 small, medium and large companies across 21 sectors and 14 cities.

TCS, the country’s largest IT employer, plans to hire talent across technologies with special focus on digital skills. “The demand for technical talent that we are witnessing is unlike any time we have seen before,” said Girish Nandimath, global head, talent acquisition, at TCS. “Across geographies, industries, and sectors, we are seeing clear evidence of customers wanting to accelerate their adoption of the digital business model.”