India’s job market is undergoing a shift with artificial intelligence (AI) roles gaining attention even as traditional hiring patterns across sectors evolve.
Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer at Naukri, a division of Info Edge, stated that while AI-driven roles are increasingly discussed, their impact on conventional jobs such as business process outsourcing (BPO) is yet to be seen. “While AI job impact may come in, at this time I don’t see material evidence,” he said.
The broader job landscape is also changing. IT, which once made up more than half of Naukri’s JobSpeak index, now contributes about 35%, reflecting a shift towards other industries. At the same time, urban services are driving growth, with non-IT sectors such as hospitality, media, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and real estate absorbing more talent.
Overall hiring has picked up pace, rising 10% in September compared with 3% in August and 7% in July. The momentum is being led by insurance at 25% growth for the quarter, BPO at 18%, and hospitality at 22%, while healthcare at 7%, pharma at 5%, and oil & gas at 8% for the quarter also remained resilient.
Auto hiring stayed flat, and IT growth was muted, but freshers finally found some relief. According to Goyal, hiring for entry-level roles surged in September in non-IT industries, with hospitality up 46%, media and entertainment 45%, real estate 42% and FMCG 39%. This, he said, marks a welcome revival in fresher demand after months of subdued activity.
The Naukri JobSpeak Index is a monthly measure of white-collar hiring trends in India. It is based on data from new job postings and recruiter searches on Naukri.com, one of India’s largest job portals.
Info Edge India has a market capitalisation of about ₹86,152 crore, with its shares down nearly 19% over the past year.