White-Collar Hiring Shows Resilience During Festive Season
India’s white-collar job market demonstrated surprising strength in October 2025, with key sectors like education, accounting, and BPO/ITES posting significant growth despite the Diwali-Dussehra holiday slowdown, according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak Index.
Key Takeaways
- Education sector hiring surged 13% year-on-year
- Accounting and finance roles grew by 15%
- BPO/ITES sector expanded by 6%
- Adjusted for holiday effect, overall hiring grew 3%
Sector-Wise Performance
The education sector emerged as the standout performer with Hyderabad leading at 47% growth, followed by Chennai and Bengaluru. Notably, hiring for freshers with less than three years of experience jumped 25%, while education startups recorded an exceptional 77% increase in hiring activity.
Technology Sector Highlights
Within the technology domain, emerging technologies including blockchain and cryptocurrency companies registered a remarkable 60% year-on-year growth. Hiring activity within IT unicorns remained stable, indicating sustained investor confidence in the sector.
BPO/ITES Expansion
The BPO/ITES sector continued its steady expansion, driven by 20% growth in entry-level hiring across both metro cities and emerging urban centers.
High-Skill Demand Intensifies
The demand for specialized talent reached new heights, with machine learning engineer hiring skyrocketing by 139%. Other roles showing strong growth included search engineers, medical billers/coders, transition managers, and manufacturing engineers, with increases ranging between 30-62%.
Despite the Naukri JobSpeak Index recording 2,480 points – a 9% year-on-year dip due to festive season slowdown – the underlying data reveals a resilient job market with multiple growth drivers across sectors.
