Contrary to fears of a global economic slowdown and the predictions of a negative impact on Indian IT and IT-enabled services from the US financial meltdown, the Indian IT-BPO industry would witness a steady pace of hiring in the fourth quarter of the current year, a recent survey says.

The survey, conducted by HR consulting firm Manpower Consultants believes that most of the companies would continue to hire at the same pace in the fourth quarter as they have done in the past.

The survey, which was conducted across nearly 1100 companies in the IT and BPO space, indicated that India's net employment outlook stood at 57 per cent while more than 50 per cent of the respondents believed that there would actually be a spurt in employment. Only one percent of the total respondents predicted a slump in hiring.

In a statement, Manpower said the the ongoing hiring in the sector can be attributed to the upcoming IT & ITES special economic zones in the country. "The emergence of new pricing models, innovative business, global delivery networks and expanded BPO services (knowledge and legal process outsourcing) are also contributing to the growth of the industry," it said.

The survey also pointed out that India was leading in terms of creating employment in the services sector in the Asia-Pacific region. India's employment outlook for the entire services sector, including IT and ITES, stood at 47 percent for the fourth quarter this year, while it was 15-21 percent for countries such as Australia, China, New Zealand, Taiwan and Singapore. Hong Kong has an employment outlook of 32 percent in the services sector, the statement said.