India's White-Collar Hiring Up 3% in January 2026

India's white-collar hiring began 2026 on a steady footing, with a 3% year-on-year increase in January, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index. This growth was primarily driven by non-IT sectors such as BPO/ITES (21% surge), hospitality/travel (15% climb), insurance (7% advance), and healthcare (5% gain). Fresher hiring also saw an 8% overall increase, with significant growth in non-IT sectors like real estate (42%), BPO/ITES (39%), insurance (35%), and hospitality (33%). While the IT sector remained flat, AI/ML roles experienced a strong 34% rise. Banking and financial services was the only major non-IT sector to see a decline, slipping 15% year-on-year. Non-metro cities like India===Jaipur, India===Ahmedabad, India===Coimbatore, and India===Hyderabad emerged as key drivers of this hiring uptick. Dr Pawan Goyal of Naukri.com noted the encouraging sustained growth in key sectors and the robust performance of Indian IT MNCs.