White-collar hiring up 3% in Jan, led by non-IT sectors, freshers: Report

India's white-collar hiring began with a steady foot with a 3 per cent year-on-year increase in January mainly driven by non-IT sectors and fresher hiring, a report said on Monday.

White-collar hiring began 2026 on a steady footing, with the Naukri JobSpeak Index witnessing 2,637 points in January -- a 3 per cent YoY rise from 2,550 points in January 2025 -- Naukri said in a report.

Non-IT sectors were the primary drivers of this growth, with BPO/ITES surging 21 per cent, hospitality/travel climbing 15 per cent, insurance advancing 7 per cent, and healthcare gaining 5 per cent.

However, banking and financial services was one major non-IT sector to see a decline, slipping 15 per cent year-on-year.

 

Meanwhile, the IT sector remained flat for the month, within this landscape, AI/ML roles sustained strong momentum with a 34 per cent rise.

Overall, fresher hiring grew 8 per cent, signalling expanding entry-level opportunities across the board, added the report.

Non-IT sectors have steadily expanded fresher hiring over the past year with hiring for 0-3 year roles rose sharply in January 2026, across key industries, including hospitality (33 per cent), insurance (35 per cent), BPO/ITES (39 per cent), and real estate (42 per cent).

This upward trend has held steady over the past three months, pointing to sustained momentum in entry-level talent absorption, the report added.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index is a monthly report that tracks trends in India's job market and hiring activity, based on new job postings and recruiter searches on Naukri.com platform.

"It's encouraging to see sustained year-on-year growth in key sectors like BPO/ITES and Hospitality. These areas have shown consistent momentum over recent months and have kicked off 2026 on a strong, positive note. Equally promising is the robust performance from Indian IT MNCs, which bodes well for the overall job market," Naukri Chief Business Officer Dr Pawan Goyal said.

Geographically, overall hiring non-metros like Coimbatore and Jaipur emerged as fresher hiring hotspots, with a 16 per cent and 15 per cent YoY growth, respectively.

While overall hiring in Hyderabad surged by 10 per cent, with a strong 14 per cent growth in global capability centre (GCC) hiring, added the report.