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 job listings on the website.

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

In this blog, we will discuss the major observations of the May 2025 edition of the Naukri JobSpeak Report.

White-collar hiring remains stable; AI/ML roles and senior professionals continue to shine: Naukri JobSpeak

The Naukri JobSpeak Index—a trusted barometer of white-collar hiring in India—stood at 2,807 in May 2025, maintaining stability compared to 2,799 in the same month last year.

While overall hiring activity remained flat, the data revealed notable growth in a few key areas. Demand for AI/ML professionals rose sharply by 25% year-on-year (YoY), while senior professionals with over 16 years of experience witnessed a 6% increase. Additionally, Insurance (+6%), Real Estate (+5%), BPO/ITES (+4%), and Hospitality (+4%) emerged as strong-performing sectors.

Dr. Pawan Goyal, Executive Director & Chief Business Officer at Naukri, said,

>“In an otherwise stable job market, what stood out in May was the continued momentum in AI/ML hiring across metros alongside steady demand for senior professionals, a trend that’s held firm over the past year. It was also interesting to witness fresher hiring gain ground in non-tech industries which bodes well for young talent.”

AI/ML roles continue to boom, registering a 25% YoY increase in hiring. Demand for these roles surged across metro cities, led by Delhi NCR (+35%), Chennai (+34%), and Kolkata (+33%). This growth was consistent across experience levels, with the 13–16 years segment growing by 36%, and even fresher hiring posting a 22% rise.

Non-IT industries showed promise in fresher recruitment, despite flat overall hiring for entry-level roles. Insurance led the way with a 26% increase, followed by Real Estate (+12%), BPO/ITES (+5%), and Hospitality (+4%), reflecting growing opportunities for young professionals outside the tech sector.

Hiring in the Oil & Gas (+21%) and Real Estate (+17%) sectors notably contributed to the rise in demand for seasoned professionals.

Metro cities played a major role in driving AI/ML and unicorn hiring.

  • AI/ML hiring saw robust momentum in Delhi NCR (+35%), Chennai (+34%), and Kolkata (+33%).
  • Unicorn recruitment grew by 19% YoY, led by Delhi NCR (+29%), Hyderabad (+27%), and Bengaluru (+12%).

In the case of seasoned professionals (16+ years experience), growth was led by:

  • Metros: Hyderabad (+16%) and Kolkata (+13%)
  • Emerging cities: Kochi (+23%) and Ahmedabad (+13%)
Picture

Professionals with 16+ years of experience saw the highest hiring traction in May 2025, with a 6% YoY increase, continuing a trend that has remained steady over the past year.

  • The 13–16 years' experience group in AI/ML roles saw 36% growth
  • Fresher hiring saw mixed results:
  • Overall flat, but with strong growth in non-IT sectors
  • Insurance and Real Estate led fresher hiring

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’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