New Delhi: India Inc has witnessed a sharp decline in the attrition levels during the April-June quarter as employees are becoming cautious about changing jobs due to uncertain economic environment. HR consultants believe the trend might continue in the current and next quarter as well. According to the study conducted by MyHiringClub.com, average attrition rate in the first quarter of the current fiscal (2012-13) stood at 17 percent, a five per cent decline from the preceding quarter. "We had seen attrition rate declined during first quarter of current fiscal year. Major reason for decline in attrition is current global economical condition and less hiring activities," MyHiringClub.com CEO Rajesh Kumar said. "Usually first quarter of every financial year is know for highest attrition but now current scenario is totally changed and fluctuation in job market is driving the less attrition in every industry," he added. Echoing similar views, Manjunath Prasad, Director at SMMC Recruitment Services said, "It's a good time in terms of employee's retention rate for companies. Attrition and recruitment both are moving on very slower pace." He further said hiring activities are almost freezing in every sector, especially in IT and IT-enabled services and banking and financial services. "Employees are not very keen to change their job or even they are not trying to get into new job due to uncertainty in global economical condition," he added. Among the 11 industries surveyed, aviation and hospitality sectors have seen highest attrition rates among employees, while the rate is lowest among automobile and manufacturing areas. However, all these sectors have witnessed a decline in attrition compared to previous quarter. The aviation and hospitality space saw the highest attrition rate of 16 per cent in the first quarter of 2012-13, a fall from 22 percent in the the fourth quarter. The banking and financial services sector witnessed an attrition rate of 15 percent against 20 percent in the preceding quarter. In addition, IT and ITes sector's attrition level stood at 13 percent in the first quarter, followed by FMCG (11 percent), real estate (10 percent), telecom (eight percent), automobiles and manufacturing (six percent). Employees with experience of up to five years had the highest attrition rate of 32 percent, while it was 27 percent for those with 5-10 years of experience and 22 percent in the 10-15 years' experience bracket. Interestingly, senior-level employees (experience more than 15 years) had an attrition rate of 19 percent. The survey was conducted among over 8,500 employees and 325 employers between May and June this year.