Finding the right job is crucial for everyone, but it can also be quite nerve-wracking, making it important for all job seekers to understand the current hiring trends.

To help you with this, Naukri has released the JobSpeak report, a monthly index that calculates and records month-on-month hiring activity based on the website's job listings.

Make informed career choices and accelerate professional growth by landing your dream job with this report, as it measures the hiring trends across industries, cities, functional areas, and experience levels.

This blog will discuss the major observations of the January 2025 edition of the Naukri JobSpeak Report.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index, India's premier indicator of white-collar hiring activity, began 2025 on a positive note. In January, the index reached 2,550 points showing a 4% year-on-year growth, significant turnaround from January 2024's 11% decline.

January's hiring activity demonstrated the resilience of traditional sectors, with core industries driving growth while IT showed regional variations in performance.

Key sectors leading the growth in January 2025 included FMCG (+16%), Insurance (+15%), Pharma (+11%), and Media & Entertainment (+14%). The Aviation and Aerospace industry showed remarkable growth at 33% year-on-year.

Dr. Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri said,

"In 2024, January had greeted us with a disappointing 11% de-growth in hiring. In contrast, 2025 seems to have started on a positive note. The 4% hiring growth is tempered as IT recovery settles in; however, strong growth in most core sectors including FMCG, Pharma, Insurance and Hospitality is a good sign and augurs well for a cracking 2025."

The retail sector showed signs of recovery, breaking free from its negative trend with a 1% growth in January 2025. Key markets like Bangalore and Delhi NCR posted growth of 7% and 4% respectively.

Unicorn companies demonstrated strong hiring momentum with a 25% increase, particularly in Banking and Financial Services (+35%), Internet/E-commerce (+18%), and IT (+16%).

The Aviation and Aerospace sector emerged as a standout performer, with Delhi NCR witnessing a remarkable 77% surge in hiring, focusing particularly on mid-level expertise.

Rajasthan emerged as a surprising powerhouse in the hiring landscape, with multiple cities showing impressive growth:

  • Jodhpur (+35%)
  • Udaipur (+32%)
  • Jaipur (+21% overall, with 38% growth in IT hiring)

Hyderabad led unicorn hiring with a 74% growth, followed by Chennai at 60%. In the marketing sector, Chennai (+24%) and Pune (+18%) emerged as new centers for talent acquisition.

Mumbai's creative hub drove the Media & Entertainment industry's 14% growth, showing balanced hiring across experience levels.

The job market showed encouraging signs for fresh graduates, with a 3% overall growth in fresher hiring. Notable sectors for entry-level positions included:

  • KPO/Research/Analytics (+26%)
  • Beauty and Wellness (+21%)
  • Hospitality (+18%)

The Aviation sector showed particular interest in mid-level talent, with a 22% increase in hiring for professionals with 4-7 years of experience.

Methodology

The Naukri JobSpeak is a monthly Index representing the state of the Indian job market and hiring activity based on new job listings and recruiter searches on Naukri.com's resume database.

July 2008 serves as the base month with an index value of 1,000, against which subsequent monthly values are compared.

The Index aggregates hiring activity from over 100,000 clients and is a reliable indicator of white-collar hiring in India.

Naukri JobSpeak