White-collar hiring activity has peaked over the past 12 months. The Naukri JobSpeak Index surged to 2,877 points in July 2024, the highest level in the past year, and 12% higher than in July 2023. The index indicates that nearly all sectors experienced double-digit growth over the last month, with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) leading with a 47% year-on-year increase. Other sectors that saw impressive growth include insurance (42%), banking and finance (27%), and FMCG (26%).

“The pharma and biotech sector recorded a substantial 26% year-on-year increase with Baroda (61%) and Hyderabad (39%) driving the surge. Key roles within pharma such as sales and business development, procurement and supply chain saw a 42% rise in hiring,” the report said.

However, the report shows that the hiring activity in the emerging services vertical – Global Capability Centers (GCCs) – was lower (at 12%) than in some old-age sectors. “It is worth noting that some of the goodness could be due to an impacted base of July 2023, which saw an atypical dip in Index value on account of the IT sector’s woes,” said the report.

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Meanwhile, Gujarat continued to lead, with Rajkot, Jamnagar, and Baroda recording growth rates of 39%, 38%, and 25% in hiring activity, respectively. In contrast, Hyderabad has emerged as a key hub for job creation across several major industries, including hospitality (76%), insurance (71%), BPO (52%), and oil & gas (44%).

“The robust 12% growth in hiring activity is a much-awaited, encouraging sign for this financial year. This is the first month this year that we have seen positive growth, and the fact that it’s secular, cutting across sectors and geographies, makes it truly promising. This broad-based, positive shift could potentially be the onset of an upcycle in the Indian white-collar job market,” said Pawan Goyal, chief business officer at Naukri.

The report shows that hiring activity grew the most among individuals with over 16 years of work experience. In contrast, job opportunities for professionals with 0-3 and 4-7 years of experience were the lowest, each at 7%, in July.

The Naukri index is based on the aggregated hiring activity of over 100,000 clients with over 7 million new job mandates yearly.