White-collar hiring up 14% in October; freshers up 15%, AI jobs up 32%

5 Nov 2026 · By Amol Pagar

Hiring for office jobs in India grew strongly in October 2026. The Naukri JobSpeak report, released on 3 November, shows white-collar hiring up 14% compared with October 2025. The Naukri JobSpeak Index rose to 2,836, from 2,480 a year earlier.

One caution: Diwali fell in October last year, which slowed hiring then. Naukri itself notes that part of this year's jump comes from that weak base. The index was also lower than in September 2026 (3,053), so this is solid growth, not a sudden boom.

Good news for freshers

Fresher hiring rose 15% compared with last year.
Senior roles grew even faster: 13–16 years and 16+ years both rose 22%.
Mid-level roles also grew: 4–7 years up 11%, 8–12 years up 14%.

Hiring is growing at every experience level, which is a healthier sign than growth in only one band.

What is growing in tech

AI and machine learning roles: up 32%. This remains the fastest-growing area in technology.
Global Capability Centres (GCCs): up 18%. International companies keep expanding their India teams.
IT software and services companies: up 5%. Growth at traditional IT services firms is steady but slow.
Software engineering and QA roles across all industries: up 1%.

The message is clear: general software jobs are flat, while AI, data and GCC roles are where the growth is.

Which cities are hiring

Hyderabad: up 15%
Pune: up 14%
Delhi-NCR: up 13%
Bengaluru and Mumbai: up 12%
Chennai: up 11%
Kolkata: flat

Smaller cities in Gujarat grew fastest: Gandhinagar up 48%, Surat up 36%, Vadodara up 30% and Ahmedabad up 23%.

Outside IT

The biggest growth came from manufacturing. Production and manufacturing roles rose 39%, the automobile sector 36%, BPO and ITES 17%, and banking and financial services 16%.

What this means for you

Freshers: hiring is up, but general software roles are crowded. Adding one AI, data or cloud skill to your profile, even through a small project, makes a real difference.
Experienced engineers: GCCs and AI/ML teams are growing fastest. If you work in Java, Python or data, look at GCC openings in Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru.
Everyone: apply only through official company careers pages.

Browse open fresher jobs, data and AI jobs, jobs in Hyderabad or jobs in Pune on Daily IT Jobs. Every listing links to the company's official page.

Sources: CareerIndia (4 Nov 2026) and Lapaas Voice (3 Nov 2026), both reporting the Naukri JobSpeak report for October 2026.