Job placement websites and agencies have taken a serious hit on their revenues as the current economic slowdown is making most companies go slow on hiring.

"As compared to 56 per cent growth last year, we are now growing at 36 per cent. The companies were hiring aggressively last year but it is sluggish this year," said Sanjeev Bhikchandani, CEO of Naukri.com.

With most companies now looking to groom internal talent and delaying new job offers, the biggest drag is coming from interest- rate sensitive industries.

"In technology, outsourcing and financial services sectors, we have seen a distinct slowdown,” said Shiv Aggarwal, CEO of ABC Consultants. Many big and small companies have gone slow on their hiring and are talking of productivity improvement issues all the time, he added.

A recent Hewett survey also shows that 28 per cent companies are committing on lesser hiring this year compared to 2007 and 48 per cent are looking for lower increments in salaries compared to last year.

The survey also forecasts that attrition rate is likely to go down across sectors from 19 per cent to 15 per cent in the coming fiscal.

All it means is lower hiring at all levels by the companies which in turn could be a bad dent to the recruitment Industry.