AI, oil and gas sectors see 20%-plus growth in hiring in February

Artificial intelligence (AI) and oil and gas sectors saw a 20%-plus increase in hiring in February in a largely cautious market, showed the monthly Naukri JobSpeak Index.

The index for white collar hiring stood at 2,780 in February, up 13% from January but about 8% lower than the year-ago level.

The pharmaceutical sector also witnessed positive hiring sentiment in February.


Non-Metro cities continued to outperform their metro counterparts and play a pivotal role in driving white-collar job creation. Senior professionals (with work experience of more than 12 years) remained most in demand. AI and machine learning (ML) roles saw a 21% year-on-year increase in new job creation in February.

“This month’s JobSpeak index underscores a transformative shift in India's hiring landscape, with remarkable hiring growth seen in oil and gas, pharma and AI sectors, against a backdrop of cautious optimism. This resilience, especially witnessed across newly added non-metro cities in JobSpeak index coverage, underscores the evolving contours of India’s job market,” Pawan Goyal, chief business officer of Naukri.com, said in a statement.

ML engineers and full stack data scientists in high demand
Hiring for niche AI related roles such as ML engineer and full stack AI scientist jumped 100% and 44% respectively in February from a year ago. Conventional data scientist roles saw a 15% year-on-year increase in hiring activity, in contrast to a 15% slowdown in overall IT sector hiring in February.

Oil and gas, pharma and FMCG sectors shine
Hiring in the oil and gas sector increased 21% year-on-year in February, with the highest increase in hiring for MEP engineers, electrical engineers and factory heads across Ahmedabad, Delhi-National Capital Region and Mumbai.

Hiring in the pharma sector recorded a 9% increase from a year ago. With ever-increasing demand for pharma products in domestic markets, specific roles such as biochemist, biotechnologist and microbiologist witnessing significant hiring. Hiring in this sector was particularly high in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chennai.

Hiring in the fast-moving consumer goods sector saw a 7% year-on-year increase in hiring in February, with an uptick in demand across rural areas leading to positive momentum in recruitment for roles including sales manager, supply chain manager and marketing manager. Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai topped the cities creating new jobs in the sector during the month.

IT, business process outsourcing and retail sectors saw a 15%, 12% and 6% year-on-year decline respectively in hiring in February.

Senior professionals, higher salary brackets see surge in hiring
Senior professionals with more than 16 years of experience continued to get the highest number of job offers, with a 21% year-on-year increase in February. New job offers for professionals falling in the experience category of 13-16 years went up nearly 7%. However, entry-level professionals saw a 15% decline in new job opportunities.

At the same time, job offers in the salary range of more than Rs 20 lakh per annum increased 23% year-on-year in February. New jobs in the Rs 13-20 lakh per annum salary range saw marginal increase of 4%, while new job openings in the sub-Rs 12 lakh per annum salary range saw a decline.