India’s white-collar hiring rose 14% year-on-year in August 2026, led by non-IT sectors and a strong pickup in fresher recruitment, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak report released on 8 September. The index reading was among the strongest of the year, though the month-on-month picture was softer.
The Naukri JobSpeak Index stood at 3,028 in August, up from 2,664 in the same month a year earlier. It slipped 6% from July’s 3,227, meaning hiring activity cooled from the previous month even as the annual comparison stayed firmly positive. The index tracks new job postings and recruiter searches on Naukri.com and is read as a directional indicator rather than a count of actual hires. It excludes gig work, hyperlocal hiring, and campus placements.
Non-IT industries carried the month. Auto and auto ancillary hiring rose 19% year-on-year, healthcare climbed 16%, and retail grew 15%. Accounting and finance rose 14%, insurance 12%, and IT and software services 11%. Banking, financial services and broking, along with GCCs, each grew 10%. The recovery wasn’t uniform: hiring fell 14% in media, dotcom and entertainment, 8% in education, teaching and training, 7% in legal services, and 4% across hotels, restaurants, airlines and travel.
AI and machine learning stayed the standout. Hiring for AI and ML roles jumped 31% year-on-year. Demand for IT and information security professionals rose 32%, while recruitment-sector hiring surged 109%. Other strong gainers included consumer durables at 36%, aviation and aerospace at 33%, mining at 28%, and gems and jewellery at 23%.
Info Edge, which owns Naukri.com, flagged the festive calendar as a factor behind the sharp annual jump.
“August saw hiring growth across both IT and non-IT sectors and across experience levels. At the same time, the growth needs to be viewed in the context of the festive calendar, with a larger part of the festive period falling in August last year and shifting to September this year,” said Hitesh Oberoi, Managing Director and CEO of Info Edge (India). Oberoi added that the underlying hiring trend would become clearer through the festive quarter.
Fresher demand outpaced the wider market. Hiring for candidates with up to three years of experience rose 15%, with the report crediting non-IT sectors such as telecom and insurance; fresher hiring in insurance alone climbed 37%. Experienced bands also held firm, with hiring up 18% for the 13-15 year cohort, 16% for those with 8-12 years, 13% for the 16-plus band, and 10% for professionals with 4-7 years.
Among the metros, Hyderabad led white-collar hiring growth at 23%, followed by Kolkata at 22% and Chennai at 20%. Bengaluru and Pune each grew 14%, Delhi-NCR 10%, and Mumbai 7%. GCC hiring, up 10% overall, was led by Hyderabad at 28% and Chennai at 21%.
