NEW DELHI: Hiring activity in India increased by 53 per cent in November from a year ago, a sign of growing positive business sentiment, according to a survey by job search website Monster.com Among sectors, retail charted the steepest annual growth in hiring, as per the Monster Employment Index India."This is a reflection of increased positive business sentiment and faith on business potential from mid- to long-term perspective," said Sanjay Modi, managing director of Monster.com (India, Middle East, South East Asia and Hong Kong). "Emerging sectors such as ecommerce (along with retail) have dominated the market with the right kind of enthusiasm."According to the survey, the IT sector continued to be among the top recruiters, taking second spot. The ecommerce sector showed continual growth in online recruitment activity, month-on-month, until October 2015, but it slowed in November, when it was down 1 per cent from a year ago.The healthcare segment saw a 72 per cent growth in demand for professionals year-on-year—the steepest among all job roles.At 61 per cent, Baroda led all monitored cities in longterm growth in hiring in November despite moderation in the pace of growth. Ahmedabad (up 60 per cent) was on the second rung.Once again, the year-on-year growth rate in hiring diminished in all prime metros. Mumbai, with 58 per cent growth in hiring from a year ago, was among the top employment generating cities.According to Monster.com, the annual growth momentum slowed the most in Delhi-NCR (up 24 per cent) and the least in Hyderabad (up 52 per cent) between October and November 2015. Delhi-NCR also registered the most restrained year-on-year growth among all monitored cities.