BENGALURU: When it comes to white-collar hiring, Southern states saw significant growth with strong year-on-year gains. With a 24% YoY growth, Tamil Nadu emerged as the top performer, followed by Telangana at 16%, Karnataka at 12%, Andhra Pradesh at 9% and Kerala at 7%, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index for October month.
Hyderabad and Chennai were among the top cities that led hiring for the Research & Analytics industry, showing growth of 51% and 50%, respectively. Cochin led the chart for the BFSI industry, registering a 40% YoY growth.
With 10% growth in October, hiring activity has sustained momentum and oil & gas (18%), pharma/biotech (12%), FMCG (8%), and IT (6%) emerged as primary drivers of this positive trend, the report said.
Artificial intelligence/machine learning roles showed growth at 39% YoY and 2% month-on-month. Interestingly, hiring in the IT sector showed positive growth in 4 out of the 7 months this fiscal.
Pawan Goyal, chief business officer at Naukri, said, “We are now experiencing sustained YoY growth, with Jobspeak revealing consistently positive trends over the past few months. We are particularly thrilled to see synchronised expansion across IT and non-IT sectors. The accelerating pace of fresher hiring is a strong indicator of business confidence and presents exciting opportunities for upcoming graduates.”
Hiring for freshers showed encouraging signs with a 6% YoY growth in October. Architecture/interior designing (57%), KPO/research/analytics (39%) and agriculture/dairy (36%) are key growth drivers. Tier 2 cities led this growth, with Coimbatore (31%) and Jaipur (15%) showing maximum increases in fresher hiring.
Senior roles and strategic hires continue to drive job market growth as 16+ years experience band registered a significant 23% YoY growth. With a 28% increase in white-collar hiring, IT unicorns showed strong performance.
At the same time, foreign MNCs and Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in the IT sector, which had a relatively slower growth through the year, showed a jump of 5% and 10%, respectively.
Hiring in IT sector shows positive growth
Interestingly, hiring in IT sector showed positive growth in 4 out of 7 months this fiscal. With 10% growth in October, hiring activity has sustained momentum and oil & gas (18%), pharma/biotech (12%), FMCG (8%), and IT (6%) emerged as primary drivers of this positive trend, the report said. AI/machine learning roles showed growth at 39% YoY and 2% month-on-month.