Barely a day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi made a mockery of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's question, "Where are the jobs?" online job portals reported on Tuesday a visible hike in hiring.

Online hiring activity saw 9 per cent jump in July primarily driven by banking, insurance sector and going forward, employers are expected to be "cautiously optimistic", says a report.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index for July 2018 stood at 2,101, registering 9 per cent increase in hiring activity from July 2017 when it stood at 1,928.

The Index had registered 9 per cent and 11 per cent growth in June and May, respectively.

"Non-IT sectors like auto, auto ancillary, real estate, construction and BFSI continue to lead the growth. We can expect the job market to be cautiously optimistic and move further north in the months to come," said Naukri.com Chief Sales Officer V Suresh.

Hiring activity in July 2018 was driven by industries like insurance & banking and financial services with a growth of 34 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.

Other industries which witnessed a rise in hiring were industrial products/heavy machinery (23 per cent), construction/ engineering (20 per cent), real estate (28 per cent), BPO/ITES (6 per cent), and Oil & Gas (11 per cent).

The report further said leadership roles with experience band of over 16 years saw a rise of 12 per cent in recruitment activity.

While entry level jobs with experience of 0-3 years saw 10 per cent rise in July 2018, hiring for trained talent of 4-7 years of experience grew 9 per cent.

Recruitment activity for middle management roles of 8-12 years of experience grew 7 per cent and the senior management roles of 13-16 years of experience witnessed 3 per cent rise in hiring.

Among metropolitan cities, Delhi NCR saw a rise of 14 per cent in hiring activity, Chennai was up 13 per cent and Mumbai by 4 per cent, the report said.

The index has been calculated based on job listings added to the site month on month. July 2008 was taken as the base month with a score of 1,000 and the subsequent monthly index is compared with data for July 2008.