Festive demand likely to fire up temporary factory hiring

New Delhi: About 100,000 temporary jobs are likely to be created in the manufacturing sector during this festive season, up from nearly 85,000 a year ago, driven by the demand for electronics, consumer goods, automobiles, electrical and industrial equipment, according to a study conducted by CIEL HR Services for ET. Other recruitment services and staffing firms such as TeamLease Services and Adecco India also anticipate a 15-20% increase in seasonal hiring.

"India's manufacturing workforce demand remains active during this festive season, with 57% of plant-floor job postings concentrated in fabrication and machine/computer numerical control (CNC) roles," said Aditya Mishra, chief executive, CIEL HR Services.

As part of its study, the company reviewed more than 50,000 job records across companies, covering more than 5,000 employers.

Further, recruitment services firm Quess currently has an estimated 8,877 open factory and plant job postings across its manufacturing clients. "This is about 71% higher than the September 2025 level of approximately 5,180 positions," said its CEO, Nitin Dave.

In more demand-sensitive segments, temporary jobs are expected to increase about 15-20% during this festive season, according to experts.

Increased hiring activity is particularly evident in sectors such as consumer electronics, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), food processing, automotive components, industrial equipment and packaging, said Deepesh Gupta, director and head of general staffing at Adecco India.

Key roles for manpower ramp-up include assembly line operators, machine operators, quality control and inspectors, picker-packers, loaders and unloaders, packaging staff, dispatch and logistics coordinators, forklift operators, maintenance technicians, CNC and equipment operators, and shift supervisors.

"Companies are giving incentives such as attendance bonus, overtime, production-linked incentives and retention bonus," said Gupta.

The strongest demand is coming from automotive original equipment manufacturers, auto component makers, electronics manufacturing services providers and semiconductor manufacturers, said Dave.

Industrial states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh together accounted for around 94% of Quess' manufacturing offers in September.

"Much of the festive demand we are seeing is linked to ongoing production lines and capacity expansion, particularly in electric vehicles (EVs), electronics and semiconductors," said Dave.

TeamLease Employment Outlook Report findings suggest that within manufacturing, 69% of employers plan to increase their headcount. The rest are looking at either reducing the workforce or not making any changes.

"Hiring is concentrated among auto and auto component makers, EV manufacturers, and consumer durables and electronics players," said Balasubramanian A, vice president at TeamLease Services. "These companies are scaling up plants and dispatch capacity to meet festive demand."

For festive frontline workers, average monthly cost to company is Rs 22,664 in consumer durables and Rs 19,944 in FMCG, with an overall median of Rs 20,525, according to TeamLease Services.

According to the CIEL HR Services analysis, welding, fitting and fabrication represent about 30% of plant-floor postings, followed by machine and CNC operators (27%).