India, August 1, 2025: India's white-collar job market posted a healthy start to the second quarter of FY’26, with hiring growing 7% year-on-year in July to reach 3,074 points on the Naukri JobSpeak Index, up from 2,877 points recorded in July 2024.
The growth was driven primarily by non-IT sectors, with Hospitality leading at +26%, followed by Insurance at +22%, Education at +16%, and Oil & Gas at +13%. Hiring in the IT sector remained stable as compared to last year. However, AI-ML roles continued their strong momentum with +41% growth.
Fresher hiring grew +8% year-on-year, while hiring for seasoned professionals with over 16 years of experience grew +13%. Unicorns and startups recorded double-digit growth of +23% and +10% respectively.
Education Sector Records Highest Growth in Over a Year
The Education sector recorded +16% growth in July, marking its strongest performance in over a year. This was mainly driven by growth in key metros like Hyderabad (+32%), Bengaluru (+21%) and Pune (+20%). Fresher hiring in the education sector also grew by an impressive +35%.
Western India Emerges as Hiring Bright Spot
A wave of hiring activity swept across western India in July, with growth seen in all major western states Gujarat, Maharashtra & Rajasthan.
Gujarat's industrial centers Surat and Jamnagar witnessed a hiring surge of +18% and +12% respectively. Similarly, hiring in Rajasthan's emerging markets, Udaipur and Jodhpur grew by +12% and +11% respectively.
Maharashtra also contributed significantly, with Kolhapur witnessing a +21% growth in hiring, followed by Aurangabad and Nagpur both recording 15% growth.
Mumbai Leads GCC Hiring Surge in July
While overall hiring by Global Capability Centers (GCCs) grew a modest 5% in July, Mumbai stood out with a sharp 18% growth, the highest among metro cities.
The momentum was largely fuelled by sectors such as Strategy/Management Consulting (+47%) and KPO/Research/Analytics (+25%), with other metros like Hyderabad (+9%), Delhi NCR (+7%), and Chennai (+7%) also contributing to the uptick.
Tech & Engineering Roles Top Gainers in 20+ LPA Band
Hiring for high paying roles (20+ LPA) continued to witness a surge in July as well, with overall hiring in this salary band growing by +21%.
The highest growth was seen in Data Science (40%), followed by IT & Information Security at 34% and Engineering at 30%. Risk Management & Compliance roles grew +26% and Environment Health & Safety positions grew +22% in this high salary bracket.
Dr. Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri said, “Non-IT sectors have been showing solid hiring momentum for a while now, especially when it comes to fresher roles. It’s encouraging to see this consistent demand coming from industries like Hospitality, Insurance, and Education.”
