White-Collar Hiring Rises 3% in January, Led by Non-IT Sectors and Freshers

There was a steady note of the white-collar job market in India as professional hiring rose by 3% points annually in January. The growth was mostly driven by non-IT-based employment and high levels of fresher hiring.

The index that measures the trends in the job market in India on the basis of job postings and searches of recruiters in the Naukri.com site increased to 2,637 points in January 2026, compared to 2,550 points in January 2025, indicating a small yet widespread growth in the employment activity

Non-IT Sectors Drive Hiring Momentum

Non-IT industries' strength drove the increase in white-collar jobs. The strongest growth was registered in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and IT-Enabled Services (ITES), where hiring increased by 21% annually, hospitality and travel by 15%, insurance by 7%, and healthcare by 5%.

However, not all non-IT segments performed uniformly. The banking and financial services sector saw a contraction in hiring, falling 15% year-on-year, even as other domains expanded.

IT Sector Shows Mixed Signals

Overall hiring in the traditional IT sector remained largely flat during January. This image reflects strong demand areas in the specialised technology jobs, where artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) jobs are recording a noteworthy 34% increase in hiring activity.

Fresher Hiring Strengthens Entry-Level Opportunities

January also saw a notable expansion in fresher recruitment, which grew 8% year-on-year. Other industries that contributed significantly to this trend were non-IT industries, and in this category, the hospitality (35%), insurance (35%), BPO/ITES (39%), and real estate (42%) industries showed sharp increases in hiring of candidates with experience of 0-3 years.

The report has reported that the increase in hiring, especially among freshers, has been consistent over the last three months, which is a sign that there is continued consumption of entry-level talent and not a temporary surge.

This long-term momentum was observed in the Naukri JobSpeak Index, a monthly indicator of the trend in hiring by new job postings and searches by recruiters on the Naukri.com platform, which showed sequential improvement in the level of hiring activity.

Remarking on the statistics, Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer at Naukri, noted that the fact that such areas as BPO/ITES and hospitality continue to grow year-on-year is a good sign of the overall situation in the labor market.

Geographic Trends Highlight Broader Spread of Opportunities

The report has indicated a broadening geographical distribution in the employment activity. The non-metro cities Coimbatore and Jaipur turned out to be the major fresher recruiting centres with rates of 16% and 15% growth per year, respectively. This tendency highlights the increased importance of the Tier-II cities to absorb the talent of the early-career.

Hyderabad was one of the largest hubs, and the total hiring had increased by 10% annually on average. There was also a 14% growth in global capability centre (GCC) staffing in the city as multinational companies continue to expand their presence in captive technology, operations, and support positions.

What Does This Mean for Investors?

The increase of 3% in white-collar employment shows that the Indian job market is starting the year on a strong note, with diversification in the demand mode in other fields other than the traditional IT jobs. BPO/ITES, hospitality, insurance, and healthcare are on the rise with a strong pace. Therefore, the service-driven industries are presenting new prospects, particularly to those who are fresher.

Simultaneously, the overall curve in IT employment is flat, although specialised jobs such as AI/ML are performing well. This indicates that the job moving is shifting towards skill-based position than general tech hiring.

In the meantime, the global capability centre (GCC) recruitment surge, particularly in such hubs as Hyderabad, points to the further investment of global companies into India as a strategic base of operations.

For investors, this trend signals operational confidence among employers, which can support revenue visibility for companies in these segments.

Source:

Business Standard

Economic Times

NDTV Profit