Online hiring activity registered a 7 per cent rise in March from a year-ago period, signalling the ongoing confidence by Indian businesses in the economy, according to a research from job portal Monster.com.

However on a month-to-month basis, the index remained unchanged in March after witnessing two consecutive months of decline in January and February this year.

"The Monster Employment Index India exhibits positive annual growth and the job opportunities have grown across all locations and most industry sectors covered by the Index," Monster.com (India/Middle-East/South East Asia) managing director Sanjay Modi said.

Modi further added that "this growth is reflective of the confidence that Indian businesses have in the resiliency of Indian economy."

A sectoral analysis shows that 22 of the 27 industry sectors monitored by the Monster Employment Index registered expansion in online recruitment activity between March, 2012 and March, 2013.

Shipping (up 58 per cent), followed by agro-based industries (up 33 per cent) exhibited the highest annual growth among sectors, while import/export and Oil & Gas (down 10 per cent) showed steepest annual decline.

Online demand improved in eight of 13 occupational groups monitored by the Monster Employment Index between March, 2012 and March this year.

Customer Service followed by arts/creative charted the most substantial annual gains amongst the occupational groups.

Online recruitment activity was up on the year for all the 13 locations monitored by the index. Jaipur (up 42 per cent), followed by Chandigarh (up 38 per cent) led all cities in annual growth.