 "India's tech job openings fall 24% in January, hit six-year low: Xpheno")
The number of active technology job roles in India continues to remain subdued, and currently such openings are the second lowest in six years, according to data from specialist staffing firm Xpheno.
As of January 2026, the number of active job openings stands at 103,000, down 24 per cent from 136,000 in the same period last year. Though the 2026 number is slightly better than 102,000 in January 2024, but it is way below 262,000 openings four years ago, when the pandemic was getting over. The current active demand volume is down 60 per cent from the peak demand recorded in January 2022.
Apart from the overall drop in volume, the tech sector has also lost the majority contributor status it traditionally held. In 2022, the non-tech sector's collective took over from the tech sector as the majority contributor to total active jobs and held it strong for more than three years. The tech sector has gone past the 50 per cent contributor mark only twice since then.
“When headwinds and adversities hit in the latter half of 2022, the tech sector rollback was the sharpest and fastest. As active demand quickly dropped by 50 per cent to hit 133,000 in January 2023, the sector was set on a downslide that it has found hard to recover from. But for a few short-lived periods of recovery, the overall downslide continues and the outlook for a recovery to regain earlier volumes is not encouraging,” said Kamal Karanth, cofounder of Xpheno.
Openings across job levels are down compared to a year ago, data from Xpheno shows. Entry-level openings are down 18 per cent while mid-senior and senior openings are down 12 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.
The active tech talent demand from global capability centres (GCCs) at 17,000 accounts for 16 per cent of the total demand and has grown by 13 per cent compared to December. The overall movement in GCCs’ demand volume has seen a 7 per cent rise compared to last year. Functionally, the core tech and engineering functions dominate active demand with a 58 per cent contribution. The demand for tech and engineering talent has dropped by 37 per cent.
Business Standard reported last month that the services industry continues to be hobbled by macroeconomic uncertainties and lack of visibility into the deal landscape, especially new large deals, worth more than $75 million. Add to it the impact of automation, codes being written by machines, and razor-sharp focus on employers to improve productivity and efficiency, and fresher hiring also takes a nosedive.
In comparison, GCCs are expected to continue their march ahead of the traditional information technology (IT) service providers this financial year with regards to higher addition of workforce as companies flock to set up such offices, which they believe will be an integral part of their technology transformation journey.
“The Indian tech sector, which once dominated the country’s overall talent action, seems to have caught a cold in late 2022 and continues to struggle with a low-to-no recovery trajectory. After being the first to recover from Covid-induced lockdowns, the tech sector went hyper on talent action from early 2021 to late 2022. The active demand from the tech sector peaked in January-February 2022 to more than 260,000, and it held 85 per cent dominance in overall active jobs,” added Karanth.