Early signs of a slowdown in the broader economy notwithstanding, core sector firms remain gung-ho about their hiring plans for the year.
Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) plans to recruit 4,000 people this year to take its staff strength to over 50,000 by March 2012.
Power generator NTPC Ltd will hire close to 900, broadly in line with the 840 recruited last year.
Larsen & Toubro plans a 40 per cent increase in the recruitment of engineering trainees from campuses, especially for its new activities of heavy engineering and power.
The private sector engineering firm, which added 4,000 employees last year, also plans to take on board management recruits this year.
BHEL, which has a staff strength of 46,748, plans to hire a combination of engineers, supervisors and workers to see its expansion plans through. Apart from fresh recruits, who will make up most of the new employees, BHEL is also eyeing retired people to be taken on as consultants for specific projects.
“Retired people would be taken on as consultants, for a small duration, primarily because the talent required for special areas is not easily available. Overall, we plan to recruit roughly 4,000 this year, including engineers, supervisors and workers,” a company official said.
Alongside the increased hiring, BHEL plans to continue with its efforts to keep employee costs under check, mainly by lowering redundancies and improving productivity.
In 2009-10, the company's employee cost was around 15.3 per cent, which came down sharply to about 12 per cent last fiscal.
Even after taking on the 4,000 new hires planned this year, BHEL hopes to keep staff cost at around 12.8 per cent.
In absolute terms, the firm's staff cost, currently around Rs 5,400 crore, is expected to stay under Rs 6,000 crore this year, officials said.
An NTPC official said its recruitment plans for this year were on track and hiring would be broadly in line with the 840 employees added in 2010-11.
L&T's FOCUS ON ENGINEERS
L&T, which has over 29,000 employees, is looking at a steady increase in the number of graduate engineering trainees from campuses. Currently, the company visits some 80 campuses.
It has also started a ‘pool campus process' under which it will invite AICTE-approved colleges from across the country, thereby enlarging its recruitment base.