India’s engineering job market added more candidates than jobs in August 2026, with 39.59 lakh active engineering candidates chasing 6.68 lakh available roles, according to a report released by job platform foundit on Engineers’ Day.
The report, based on live job postings compiled in August and candidate supply drawn from foundit’s talent database, puts the overall candidate-to-job ratio at 5.9 to 1. That aggregate figure masks sharp differences by experience level. Professionals with zero to three years of experience make up 45% of active candidates but only 28% of available jobs, pushing the ratio at entry level to 9.5 candidates per opening. Beyond three years of experience, competition eases considerably, falling to roughly four to five candidates per job, and dropping further to 4.1 for engineers with 15 or more years of experience.
The mismatch also varies by specialisation. Automobile and automotive engineering has just 1.2 candidates per job, and production or industrial engineering has 1.4, while electronics and instrumentation records 11.5 candidates for every opening and electronics and communication or telecom sees 10.9.
“Engineering careers today are no longer defined by a single sector or traditional career path,” said Tarun Sharma, Chief Product and Technology Officer, foundit. “As demand expands across technology, manufacturing, infrastructure, automotive, electronics and energy, engineers have a wider canvas to build their careers. The opportunity is to keep evolving with where industries are headed and apply their engineering foundation across emerging areas of demand.”
Technology remains the single largest destination for engineering talent, but the report found that most opportunities now sit outside IT. IT, software and services or GCCs account for 33% of engineering jobs, with manufacturing and industrial roles the second-largest destination at 15%, followed by construction, engineering and real estate at 13%. Electronics and semiconductors, automotive and EV, and energy and power and renewables together make up another 26% of opportunities. Bengaluru remains India’s largest single hiring hub for engineers, accounting for 19% of openings, or roughly 1,27,000 jobs.
