Zinnov reveals India’s MNC R&D Centers Attrition and Hiring Outlook

Zinnov has released a “Attrition, Hiring and Salary Increase 2013” report on the MNC R&D ecosystem that showed sustained growth levels in hiring and reduction in attrition over the previous financial year. The report found that depreciating rupee value has contributed positively in offsetting macroeconomic challenges.

According to the report, India currently hosts 1,031 MNC R&D centers, growing at ~4% year or year, with an overall employment base of 2,44,000 growing at ~11% year on year. It also stated that of this talent pool, ~59% is employed in Software, Telecommunication and Semiconductor verticals. Software companies alone employ ~35% of the total R&D talent present in India.

Nitika Goel, Sr. Program Manager  Globalization Accelerator Platform (G.A.P), Zinnov, said, Innovative employee engagement initiatives, stable salary growth, and the increasing availability of higher-value roles and opportunities in India have helped maintain stability in attrition, despite expectations to the contrary.

Further, MNCs have also stayed their course on hiring, with a specific focus on lateral hires even at junior levels. There is a clear focus on investing in people and we see this trend continuing in 2014, she added.

Interestingly, the study found that engineering MNCs enjoy lower attrition and higher hiring than software/internet MNCs. Attrition at engineering MNCs was at 7.73% in 2013, while it was 10% at software/internet MNCs. Hiring at software/internet MNC R&D centers stood at ~14% in 2013, while it was ~24% at engineering R&D centers. The study also showed that the backfills-to-new hires ratio at engineering R&D centers was 35:65, an indicator of growing demand at these employers. This ratio stood at 55:45 at software R&D centers.