India white-collar hiring rises 14% in August led by AI roles

White-collar hiring in India grew 14 per cent year-on-year in August, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index, which rose to 3,028 from 2,664 in the same month last year. The growth was heavily driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) roles, which saw a 31 per cent increase.

Sectoral growth was led by the automotive industry at 19 per cent, followed by healthcare at 16 per cent and retail at 15 per cent. Other notable increases included insurance (12 per cent), IT (11 per cent), and banking and FMCG (10 per cent each). Conversely, the education sector saw an 8 per cent decline, while hospitality and travel recruitment fell by 4 per cent.

Regional trends showed significant activity in southern cities. Hyderabad recorded the highest growth in AI/ML hiring at 48 per cent, followed by Mumbai at 36 per cent. Other cities with 31 per cent increases in AI/ML recruitment included Bengaluru, Chennai, and Pune. Additionally, hiring by Global Capability Centres (GCCs) grew by 10 per cent.