New Delhi, April 13 : India Incs talent demand in March recorded a dip of five per cent month-on-month and two per cent year-on-year, said a report on Monday. The findings of the TimesJobsRecruiteX report suggest that hiring activities among companies in India has already started taking a backseat due to the disruptions driven by COVID-19. This is despite that fact that the year 2020 started on a cheerful note for India Inc. with the overall talent demand registering 12 per cent month-on-month growth in January. However, as the coronavirus pandemic spread quickly in the country, most industries started operating remotely and the talent demand in February 2020 noted a dip. In March 2020, the talent demand dropped further owing to the nation-wide lockdown. "The COVID-19 spread has brought in uncertain times that none of us had ever thought or imagined earlier," Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig, said in a statement. Only three sectors - retail, accounting and IT/telecom -- saw improvements in the study. The retail sector noted six per cent rise, the accounting sector registered five per cent growth and the IT/telecom sector witnessed two per cent uptick in month-on-month talent demand. Barring these, all other sectors including construction/cement (-17 per cent), automobiles/auto component (-8 per cent), petrochemicals/oil and gas (-7 per cent) -- saw a dip in talent demand, said the TimesJobsRecruiteX report which is a monthly recruitment index. Except Hyderabad/Secunderabad which saw 16 per cent growth in talent demand in March, all other cities, including Chandigarh (-30 per cent), Ahmedabad (-15 per cent) Vadodara (-12 per cent) witnessed a slump in talent demand, said the report. /IANS