India’s white-collar job market is likely to remain stable in the first half of calendar 2026, with three in four or 76% recruiters expecting new job creation, and 95% anticipating an increase in overall hiring activity, according to Naukri’s latest Hiring Outlook survey released on Thursday.
The bi-annual survey, based on responses from more than 1,250 recruiters, showed a modest but notable improvement in sentiment from the second half of 2025, when 72% of recruiters had predicted new job creation.
The findings suggest that hiring in H1 2026 will move beyond replacement roles to incremental expansion across sectors.
“With 76% of recruiters focused on new job creation, the H1 2026 Hiring Outlook reflects sustained confidence in India’s job market,” said Pawan Goyal, chief business officer at Naukri.com.
Healthcare is expected to be the most optimistic sector, with 88% of recruiters forecasting the creation of new jobs, followed by manufacturing at 79%. The BFSI sector is likely to see a relatively conservative yet resilient outlook, with 70% of recruiters expecting new roles, while 76% of IT recruiters anticipate fresh hiring, reflecting sustained demand in technology-driven functions.
At a functional level, IT and business development roles are expected to see the highest hiring activity in H1 2026, with 45% of recruiters in each area anticipating strong demand. This marks a considerable rise from H2 2025, when only 37% of recruiters expected IT hiring, and just 20% anticipated hiring in business development.
Sector-specific trends show BFSI firms focusing on financial roles, manufacturing companies prioritising operations and supply chain functions, and healthcare firms strengthening their marketing teams.
Recruiters are also expected to continue favouring entry- and mid-level professionals. Around 69% of IT recruiters expect the highest demand to be for mid-level talent, with four to seven years of experience, while 65% of healthcare recruiters plan to hire candidates with zero to three years of experience, indicating a stronger push towards fresh talent in the sector.
Despite the robust hiring intent, recruiters flagged skill alignment as the biggest challenge in the coming months. About 29% of respondents cited difficulty in finding candidates with the right skills, up from 21% in H2 2025.
In the IT sector, budget constraints remain the primary hurdle for hiring, though the share of recruiters citing this fell to 22% from 28% in the previous period. A smaller but growing cohort of senior recruiters also pointed to talent shortages as a key concern, with 23% flagging this issue, up from 20% earlier.
On employee churn, more than three-fourths of recruiters expect attrition to trend below 15% in the next six months, while 55% believe attrition will stay under 10%, an improvement from 51% in H2 2025. IT roles are expected to see the highest churn, followed by business development and marketing.
Salary growth is also expected to stay moderate. Nearly 59% of recruiters anticipate increments of under 10%, up from 56% in the previous half-year. While 48% expect increments in the 5–10% range and 25% foresee hikes of 10–15%, only 11% predict raises below 5%.
Concerns around artificial intelligence-led job losses remain muted. About 87% of recruiters believe AI won’t have a significant impact on overall employment levels. At the same time, optimism around AI-driven job creation has risen, with 18% now expecting new roles to emerge—up from 13% earlier—primarily across IT, analytics and marketing.
“Importantly, AI is emerging as a catalyst for new role creation, especially in technology, analytics, and marketing functions,” said Goyal. “This evolution highlights the importance of continuous upskilling as organisations prepare for the next phase of workforce transformation.”