India's white-collar hiring registered a 14% year-on-year growth in August, with the overall Naukri JobSpeak Index touching 3,028 compared to 2,664 in August last year, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak report. The growth was significantly driven by AI and machine learning roles, which jumped 31% year-over-year, marking a substantial shift in hiring patterns. As per Info Edge (India) Ltd MD and CEO Hitesh Oberoi, "August saw hiring growth across both IT and non-IT sectors and across experience levels." However, the hiring growth needs to be viewed in the context of the festive calendar, with a larger part of the festive period falling in August last year and shifting to September this year. "We will have a clearer view of the underlying hiring trend as we move through the festive quarter," Oberoi said, as reported by Naukri.com.
The auto sector recorded the strongest hiring growth at 19%, followed by healthcare at 16% and retail at 15%. Among other key sectors, insurance grew at 12% year-on-year, followed by accounting and finance jobs at 14%. BPO/ITES, oil and gas, and real estate sectors recorded 8% growth each. Pharma/Biotech remained flat, while hospitality and travel witnessed a 4% decline in hiring, and education saw an 8% drop. The latest data shows healthcare and life sciences roles recorded 34% growth, followed by media production and entertainment at 33%, engineering hardware and networks at 30%, and BFSI, investments and trading at 29%. Consumer durables emerged as a standout performer with 36% growth, while aviation and aerospace recorded 33% growth, mining 28%, office equipment and automation 25%, gems and jewellery 23%, and shipping and marine 21%.
Hiring remained positive at all experience levels, with fresher recruitment witnessing a growth of 15% year-on-year, while for 4-7 years it rose 10%. Mid-to-senior experience bands also recorded strong growth, with hiring up 16% for 8-12 years, 18% for 13-15 years and 13% for over 16 years. The biggest increase was for workers with 13-15 years of experience, which jumped 18%, while there was a 13% increase for those with 16 or more years. The Naukri JobSpeak report is a monthly index that tracks trends in India's job market and hiring activity, based on new job postings and recruiter searches on Naukri.com's platform. The report cautioned that fresher hiring growth was particularly strong, with candidates having up to three years of experience seeing 15% growth, attributed to non-IT sectors such as telecom and insurance, with insurance alone recording 37% growth in fresher hiring.
IT/software services hiring increased 11% overall, but demand for IT and information security professionals surged significantly at 32%, as reported by Naukri.com. This substantial growth in IT security roles reflects the increasing focus on cybersecurity and data protection in today's digital-first business environment. The strong performance of IT and information security roles, combined with the overall 31% growth in AI and machine learning positions, indicates robust demand for technology professionals with specialized skills in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Banking, financial services and broking also showed strong performance with 10% growth, while hiring in global capability centres (GCCs) grew 10%.
Among metros, Hyderabad led hiring growth at 23% year-on-year, followed by Kolkata at 22%, Chennai at 20%, Bengaluru and Pune at 14% each, Delhi NCR at 10% and Mumbai at 7%. In emerging cities, Bhubaneswar recorded the strongest growth at 32%, followed by Raipur at 23%, Surat at 21% and Ranchi at 19%. Among specific cities, Gandhinagar saw an increase of 44%, while Chandigarh fell 12%. The report noted that hiring activity moderated month-on-month, with the index falling 6% from 3,227 in July to 3,028 in August. The recovery was nevertheless uneven, with hiring falling 14% in media, dotcom and entertainment, 8% in education, teaching and training, and 7% in legal services, while hotels, restaurants, airlines and travel recorded a 4% decline.
