Chennai, Oct 10 : Employment in tier 2 and 3 cities in India saw an uptick during the first half of the current year and is expected to maintain that trend in the second half as compared to the metropolitan areas, said senior officials of CIEL HR Services Private Ltd. They also said the company in its runup to the initial public offering (IPO) is in the process of getting converted into a public limited company and raising Rs 200 crore out of which Rs 150 crore will be for four acquisitions. 'The first half of the current year saw headwinds for some sectors like the information technology (IT) outsourcing, startups and others while sectors like electric vehicle (EV), retail, automobile did well,' said Aditya Narayan Mishra - Managing Director and CEO of CIEL HR Services. According to him, hiring is expected to pick up in January-March 2024 in IT outsourcing and sectors like hospitality, travel offer higher employment opportunities during the sporting season. The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), EV, healthcare, telecom industries did well during the first half of the current year and is expected to maintain the trend during the second half of the year, Mishra said. Mishra said the employment in Tier 2 and 3 cities is expected to grow faster than that in the metros backed by the growth of Internet and UPI penetration in those places, shifting consumer spend towards online shopping. The company closed the first half with a revenue of about Rs 486 crore and hopes to close the full year with a revenue of about Rs 1,250 crore. 'CIEL's digital forays in the past year has majorly contributed to the growth of CIEL Group in the H1. I am confident that we are not far from our IPO plans, being the only player to provide a full spectrum of HR services and having a strong geographic presence with 77 offices in 47 locations in India,' K.Pandiarajan, Executive Chairperson & Director, CIEL Group said. He said the company's deputee headcount is about 30,000 and the target of 50,000 deputees by the end of this year is achievable. Pandiarajan said as part of its runup to the IPO, the company will be getting converted to a public limited company, come out with 4:3 rights issue and also issue bonus shares. The company will be raising about Rs 200 crore as pre-IPO funding out of which Rs 150 crore will be used for four acquisitions and the balance will be for marketing, strengthening the digital assets, working capital, scaling up the company and others. Pandiarajan said one of the four target companies is an IT staffing company and the term sheet will be signed soon. /IANS