India’s white-collar hiring activity slowed in October 2025 during the Diwali-Dussehra festive cluster, reveals the Naukri JobSpeak Index. It says there was a 9 per cent dip year-on-year.

Sectors such as accounting and finance (+15 per cent), education (+13 per cent), and BPO/ITES (+6 per cent) defied the trend with positive growth. The demand for professionals in AI/ML roles also remained unabated, with a 33 per cent year-on-year increase in hiring. Most other sectors, including bellwether IT (-15 per cent) and banking (-24 per cent), saw a contraction in hiring activity.

The demand for niche and high-skill talent continued to intensify, with several specialised roles posting exceptional growth, says the report. Hiring for machine learning engineers led this trend with a 139 per cent surge. Other specialised roles in demand included search engineers (+62 per cent), medical biller/coders (+41 per cent), transition managers (+35 per cent), and manufacturing engineers (+32 per cent).

Different learning priorities

A vast majority of India’s white-collar professionals — 96 per cent of those surveyed — have upskilled in the past year; however, the learning priorities and motivations differ sharply across generations, reveals Deel’s Skilling and Upskilling Survey 2025. According to the report, Gen Z and fresh graduates are leading the skilling charge at 61 per cent and 63 per cent, respectively. Access to upskilling opportunities is a key factor to stay on with an employer.

The younger workforce is also riding the artificial intelligence (AI) wave, with more than half of Gen Z (54 per cent) and fresh graduates (57 per cent) actively learning AI and data skills. Millennials are lagging, with only 40 per cent learning new skills. Gen X (38 per cent) prioritises traditional domain expertise, focusing on core professional and functional skills over new technologies. This contrast highlights how India’s workforce is evolving at different speeds, and why employers must now build strategies that support continuous development across all age groups, says the report.

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Published on November 10, 2025