Looking for your next job? These sectors are driving India's 14% hiring growth. Check the full list here

India’s white-collar job market is giving job seekers some reason for optimism. Hiring activity was 14% higher in August than a year ago, with freshers, experienced professionals and AI talent all seeing stronger demand. But hiring did slow from July, showing that the recovery is not entirely steady.

The Naukri JobSpeak index stood at 3,028 in August 2026, compared with 2,664 in August 2025, marking a 14% year-on-year increase. On a monthly basis, however, the index fell about 6% from 3,227 in July.

The sequential decline comes as the festive calendar shifted this year, with a larger part of the festive period falling in August rather than September.

Freshers are seeing more opportunities

For people at the start of their careers, the latest numbers offer some positive signs.

Hiring for candidates with 0-3 years of experience rose 15% year-on-year. Importantly, this growth was driven by non-IT sectors such as Telecom and Insurance.

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Hiring also increased across other experience groups:

Professionals with 13-15 years of experience recorded the highest growth at 18%.

AI hiring is outpacing IT

The strongest growth continues to be in specialised technology roles.

• AI/ML hiring: +31%
• IT/software services: +11%

The numbers show that demand for AI and machine-learning talent is rising much faster than overall IT/software hiring.

For job seekers, that makes AI/ML one of the clearest growth areas in the current market.

Auto, healthcare and retail see strong growth

The hiring recovery is also spreading beyond technology.

Some sectors recorded even sharper growth in the detailed data. Consumer durables hiring increased 36%, aviation/aerospace 33%, mining 28%, office equipment/automation 25%, gems and jewellery 23%, and shipping/marine 21%.

However, hiring declined 4% in hospitality and 8% in education.

Hyderabad leads major cities

The recovery is also playing out differently across India's major employment hubs.

Hyderabad also recorded 28% growth in GCC hiring, compared with 10% growth in GCC hiring overall.

Smaller cities recorded even bigger percentage gains, with Gandhinagar up 44%, Bhubaneswar 32%, Rajkot 29%, Nellore 27%, Visakhapatnam 26% and Varanasi 25%.

These figures are growth rates and do not mean these cities have more jobs than larger employment centres. The base from which hiring is measured is different for each city.

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What the index actually measures

One important point, the JobSpeak index is a measure of hiring activity on the platform, not the number of jobs created in India.

The index uses July 2008 as its base month, with a value of 1,000, and aggregates data from more than 150,000 clients. It excludes gig employment, hyperlocal hiring and campus placements.

So, the 14% rise means white-collar hiring activity was higher than in August 2025. It does not mean India's total employment increased 14%.

Overall, the latest data points to a broader hiring recovery, rather than one limited to IT. Freshers are seeing more opportunities, AI demand is growing rapidly and sectors such as auto, healthcare and retail are expanding hiring. At the same time, the monthly decline shows that the recovery remains uneven.