India's white-collar hiring rises 2% in September as AI/ML jobs hit record growth: Naukri

Mumbai: White-collar hiring grew marginally by 2% year-on-year (YoY) in September, driven mainly by record growth in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) roles, followed by the auto sector, a report said on Friday.

White-collar hiring remained largely steady in September, growing 2% YoY, with the Naukri JobSpeak Index reaching 3,053 compared to 3,002 in the year-ago month, according to a report by Naukri.com, Info Edge's flagship brand.

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


The report revealed that AI/ML roles continued to record growth, rising 20% in September, while the Auto sector grew 11%. BPO/ITES and GCC hiring grew 4% each during the month, the report added.

Among other key sectors, Insurance, Retail, Banking and Financial Services and Real Estate remained largely stable, while hiring declined across IT/Software Services (4%), Pharma/Biotech (4%), FMCG (4%) and Healthcare (3%).

Among metros, Hyderabad recorded 9% YoY growth, followed by Chennai at 6%, and Bengaluru and Kolkata at 4% each. While Pune remained stable, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai declined 6% each; hiring growth across emerging cities remained largely flat in September.