India’s technology job market has hit a 28-month low, with active openings falling to 93,000 in June 2026, according to the Active Tech Jobs Outlook report released by specialist staffing firm Xpheno.
The 14% month on month decline is the steepest single-month contraction recorded in the past year and extends a hiring slowdown that has persisted across India’s technology sector since 2023. On a year on year basis, active tech openings are down 17%.
The fall was broad based. IT services, which remains the largest talent consumer in the sector, saw hiring decline 16% sequentially to 36,000 openings a 31% drop year on year. Global Capability Centres slipped 6% month-on-month in June, though GCC hiring is still up 31% compared to the same period last year, the only segment registering year-on-year growth in the current data.
The sharpest deterioration was at the entry level. Opportunities for professionals with up to two years of experience fell to 10,000 in June, down from 13,000 in May and representing a 44% drop year on year. Mid-senior roles account for 46,000 of the 93,000 openings, the largest concentration in the market.
Xpheno co-founder Kamal Karanth attributed the decline partly to developments originating from the United States, a critical market for India’s technology industry. A separate Business Standard report citing Xpheno data found that 7,300 Indian tech professionals have returned from the US so far in 2026, up from 9,800 returnees across all of 2024, as visa uncertainty and a slower US hiring environment push engineers back home. The data suggests returnees could exceed the number of professionals moving in the other direction this year.
The workplace data in the report shows continued employer conservatism. Despite the broader slowdown, 70% of all active tech openings remain full time work from office roles. Hybrid openings fell 22% month on month and 26% year on year. Remote roles grew 8% sequentially but are down 13% year-on-year.
Technology’s share of total active talent demand has held at 44% for three consecutive months below the 50% contribution mark that once defined the sector’s dominance of India’s overall hiring market.
