New Delhi: India’s white-collar job market ended the fiscal year on a strong note, with new jobs increasing 16% year-on-year, with growth spread across both metro and non-metro markets, a report said on Monday.
According to the Naukri report, non-IT sectors are supporting the expansion of the job market, with hospitality growing at 21% year-on-year, followed by BPO or ITES at 18%, oil and gas and education at 15% each, and real estate at 14%.
The report cited the JobSpeak Index, which rose 9% year-on-year in March to 2,858.
“This strong performance solidifies an annual growth rate of over 8% in FY26, a significant increase from the growth of over 2% recorded in FY25,” the report said.
Recruitment of new employees in the salary bracket above 2 million rupees per year grew by an impressive 23% year-on-year.
While IT sector employment was flat, AI or ML roles saw a sharp increase of more than 37% in March and more than 45% for the fiscal year as a whole.
Demand for talent with LPA salaries above Rs 20 has grown by more than 16%. Unicorn adoption also emerged as a bright spot, increasing more than 24% year over year.
AI/ML employment grew more than 37% year-over-year in March, but the distribution of demand was skewed towards the highest paid.
Growth was highest at the highest salary levels, with employees on LPA Rs 50 and above seeing a growth of more than 55 per cent, LPA Rs 40-49 saw more than 40 per cent growth, and LPA Rs 30-39 saw more than 41 per cent growth.
Regionally, Kolkata leads the way in AI/ML adoption with over 56 per cent year-on-year growth, followed by Delhi-NCR with over 44 per cent, both ahead of the established technology hubs of Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Service-driven non-IT sectors such as hospitality, education, and BPO/ITES showed remarkable resilience throughout FY26.
