India’s white-collar job market is set to expand further in the second half of 2026, with 97% of senior HR leaders expecting hiring activity to continue and 79% anticipating the creation of entirely new roles rather than only backfilling existing ones, according to Naukri’s H2 2026 Hiring Outlook survey.
The survey drew on responses from more than 540 senior HR leaders and hiring decision-makers. Optimism ran strongest in real estate, FMCG and IT/Tech. As many as 86% of HR leaders in real estate expected new job creation in the second half, followed by FMCG at 85% and IT/Tech at 83%, up from 79% in the first half. Manufacturing and healthcare each stood at 79%, while 72% of BFSI HR leaders expected new roles.
By function, the outlook was strongest for Business Development, Marketing and IT roles, cited by 45%, 37% and 31% of HR leaders respectively. Entry-level demand held up too, with 62% of HR leaders looking to hire candidates with zero to three years of experience, led by BFSI, healthcare and IT.
The survey pushed back on fears of AI-driven job destruction. Eighty-six per cent of HR leaders said they did not expect significant job losses due to AI, while more than 20% of leaders in IT and BFSI expected AI to create new roles over the next six months, particularly in IT, marketing and analytics.
Skills, not demand, emerged as the sharper constraint. Matching available skills with changing job requirements was flagged as the biggest hiring challenge by 31% of HR leaders, with the faster emergence of new skills and the shorter shelf life of existing ones making continuous skill development increasingly important.
Commenting on the findings, Hitesh Oberoi, MD & CEO, Info Edge, said: “With 79% of senior HR leaders predicting new job creation, the H2 2026 Hiring Outlook points to steady acceleration in India’s job market.” He added that employers see AI opening up new roles across many sectors, particularly in IT, marketing and analytics.
The findings offer a counterpoint to the wave of AI-linked layoff headlines across the technology sector, suggesting that for now Indian employers are reshaping rather than shrinking their workforces, even as the skills bar keeps rising.
