he IT sector has witnessed a decline of -3% in hiring in March. But it is an improvement from the -16% contraction it saw last year in March, shows Naukri Jobspeak Index report. Amid global uncertainty, hiring in the IT industry is slowly recovering as demand for specialised skills is growing.
The emerging-tech sub-sector under IT that comprises companies working in technologies like crypto & blockchain witnessed a 36% growth. Additionally, IT start-ups also witnessed a 11% growth in March 2025, says the report.
Apart from the IT sector, other major sectors also mirrored the overall trend and ended close to last year’s base, with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML) being the major outlier, with hiring growing at a fabulous 25% y-o-y. Retail (-13%), Oil & Gas (-10%) and Education (-14%) are sectors that ended up in the red when compared with the same month last year.
The report also pointed out that the job market revealed a clear preference for specialised technological roles. Machine learning engineers topped the chart with 88% growth, followed by search engineers at 39% and investment banking analysts at 35%.
Surge in hiring within unicorns With 29% growth in unicorn recruitment, Chennai emerged as the unicorn hiring powerhouse this month, followed by Delhi NCR with a 23% growth and Hyderabad with a 17% increase. Banking and Financial Services unicorns also surged with 36% growth in hiring.
Like previous months, professionals with over 16 years of experience are in high demand across various industries. Auto, Banking, FMCG, and Internet/E Commerce sectors actively sought senior talent, with growth ranging from 10% to 29% and cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad became hotspots for experienced professionals.
Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri, said, “We were expecting some transient dips owing to the extended holiday weekends in March and the JobSpeak index is playing back the same, especially in a few sectors. However, the overall Index and most major sectors staying stable vs. last year is a promising takeaway for us.”