India’s festive hiring grew 7% year on year to 1,27,080 jobs in 2026, even as overall white-collar hiring moderated 11% year on year in September, according to the latest foundit Insights Tracker released on 6 October 2026.
Quick commerce led festive demand with an 18% year-on-year rise, followed by e-commerce at 12% and logistics and transportation at 10%. Travel and hospitality, media and entertainment, and retail recorded gains of over 6%, 5% and 4% respectively.
Festive hiring has risen for three consecutive years, from 98,120 jobs in 2024 to 1,18,750 in 2025 and 1,27,080 in 2026.
Tarun Sinha, Chief Executive Officer of foundit, said: “The festive season is increasingly reflecting a broader shift in India’s employment landscape, as hiring expands beyond traditional consumption centres into Tier-II and emerging cities.” He added: “As consumption becomes more distributed, we expect employment opportunities to increasingly follow the same trajectory.”
Demand is spreading beyond metros, with Tier 2 and emerging cities growing significantly faster, and early-career professionals remain at the centre of festive hiring, the tracker found. White-collar gigs and freelance hiring grew 15% year on year, “indicating greater use of flexible talent as businesses respond to seasonal spikes in demand.”
The 1,27,080 opportunities refer to festive white-collar hiring tracked through foundit’s employment data. The 11% dip in September white-collar hiring comes from the same source and reflects the slowdown ahead of the Diwali and Dussehra festive cluster.
The foundit Insights Tracker, formerly known as the Monster Employment Index, is a monthly analysis of online job posting activity in India.
