In signs of a strengthening labour market, hiring activities accelerated in the country last month, driven primarily by the retail sector, according to Monster.com.

The leading job portal on Thursday said that sectors such as retail witnessed a good recruitment trend on the back of rising domestic demand.

In February, the Monster Employment Index India -- an indicator of monthly online job demand -- rose to 116, as compared to 113 in the previous month.

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". . . More notable are the emerging recruitment trends in sectors like retail, which point to sustained improvement in domestic demand...," Monster.com managing director (India/West Asia/South East Asia) Sanjay Modi said.

Noting that positive growth in the index is a "clear indicator of escalated recruitment activity", he said computer and technology-related fields continue to fuel overall growth trends. In the February index, the retail sector showed the highest increase in online job availability with a score of 136, while the same was at 130 and 125 for Oil/Gas/Petroleum, Power (130) and the BPO/ITES (125) segments, respectively.

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"Month-on-month recruitment activity in the IT sector expanded seven points (6 per cent) in February against a one point drop noted in January.

"Online opportunities in Banking, Finance and Insurance sector rose 2 per cent month-on-month," Monster.com said.

In terms of cities, the highest online job opportunities in February were seen in Mumbai and Kochi, with a score of 121 each, followed by Coimbatore (119), Chennai (118) and Pune (117).