India's Hiring Market Is Steady but Selective: What the Naukri Data Means for Your 2027 Plan
Two months, two very different headlines. Naukri's JobSpeak Index showed white-collar hiring up 14% year on year in August, then only 2% in September. If you plan hiring for a living, the real question is which parts of that data you can trust.
Naukri's CEO noted that festive timing shifts the month to month comparison, and that the underlying trend will be clearer across the festive quarter. So read one month with care. The useful signals are the ones that show up in both.
What held steady across both months
AI and machine learning roles keep growing. AI/ML hiring was up 31% in August and 20% in September, well ahead of the overall market.
That demand leans senior. In August, hiring for AI/ML talent with 16 or more years of experience more than doubled, the 13 to 16 year band rose 87%, and the 8 to 12 year band rose 39%. Naukri's CEO described the September picture the same way: demand is moving toward specialised skills, particularly AI, and toward more experienced professionals.
Broader IT is not moving with AI. Coverage of the September report notes that general IT and software recruitment contracted while AI/ML grew.
What moved around
- Experience bands. Hiring for 4 to 7 years of experience was up 10% in August and down 2% in September. In September, 8 to 12 years rose 5%, 13 to 16 years rose 7%, and 16 plus rose 5%. One month does not make a trend.
- Cities. In September, Hyderabad grew 9% and Chennai 6%, while Delhi-NCR and Mumbai each fell 6%. Emerging cities were largely flat after strong growth in August.
One caution: JobSpeak is built from new job listings and recruiter searches on Naukri. It is a useful indicator, not a count of every hire in the country.
What this means for your hiring plan
1. Plan AI roles separately. Expect longer timelines, a senior skew, and candidates with several offers. Define the skill bar sharply before you start sourcing, because keyword matching will flood you with the wrong profiles.
2. Do not read one month as a trend. A dip in demand for 4 to 7 years of experience in September does not mean that talent is easy to find. Look at a rolling three months before changing your plan.
3. Do not tie a role to one city unless you must. If the work can be done from more than one location, widen the search. Growth is uneven across cities, and so is competition for candidates.
4. Separate headcount plans from skill plans. Naukri's CEO described a market driven by specific capability needs, not general headcount. Your 2027 plan should list the capabilities you need to buy, then count the people.
Where a marketplace fits
When your needs are specific and your locations are flexible, one agency's network is rarely enough. A recruitment agency marketplace lets you brief once and reach specialist agencies across cities at the same time, in one system. You pay only when a hire joins, so agencies are rewarded for fit, not for volume.
The bottom line
A headline number of 2% hides a market that is growing fast in a few places and flat in others. Plan around the signals that repeat, AI specialisation and seniority, and treat single-month swings as questions to watch, not conclusions to act on.
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Highring is a recruitment agency marketplace for companies and agencies. We are not a job board and do not accept direct resumes from candidates.