Mid-career professionals and select high-growth sectors buck the broader slowdown; salary momentum concentrates in AI-adjacent and specialised manufacturing roles
Overview
The foundit Insights Tracker (FIT) for India stood 10% below its year-ago level in August 2026, extending the softer print seen since March. The month, however, delivered a 5% sequential rebound, and the three-month reading is now essentially flat — the first signal in several cycles that the pull-back may be bottoming out rather than deepening.
The broader picture remains uneven. Only 5 of 26 industries and 6 of 13 functional areas registered annual growth, and hiring intent continues to concentrate around specialised, replacement, and mid-career demand rather than volume expansion.
- YoY: –10%
- MoM: +5%
- 3-month: –0%
- 6-month: –18%
Industry: Travel, Healthcare and Real Estate anchor the positive column
Five of the 26 industries tracked posted annual growth in Aug’26.
- Travel & Tourism led at +22%, supported by sustained leisure demand and continued expansion in aviation, hospitality operations and OTAs.
- Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals followed at +16%, reflecting steady clinical hiring alongside a pick-up in medical devices and speciality pharma.
- Real Estate rose 10% as commercial leasing and residential launch cycles firmed up in the top metros.
- Automotive (+8%) drew strength from EV, component manufacturing and industrial engineering roles, while Construction & Engineering rounded out the gainers at +5%, in line with public infrastructure activity.
- The declines were led by Import & Export (–27%), Logistics & Transportation (–22%) and Chemicals & Plastics (–21%) — trade-linked segments most exposed to weaker external demand.
- Retail (–18%), BPO (–13%) and IT – Software & Services (–11%) also remained soft, though IT registered a modest MoM improvement, its first sequential gain in several months. Manufacturing (–3%) and BFSI (–3%) posted only mild YoY declines and are close to a flat run-rate on a three-month view.
Functional area: Medical, Marketing and Legal roles lead demand
Six of the 13 functional areas monitored posted annual growth in Aug’26.
Medical roles topped the table at +23%, mirroring the underlying industry pattern, followed by Marketing & Communications (+20%) as brands returned to consumer-facing spend after a subdued first half.
Legal (+9%), Engineering & Production (+7%), IT (+5%) and Finance & Accounting (+4%) rounded out the gainers, with IT hiring showing early signs of stabilisation.
On the other end, Senior Management roles saw the sharpest annual drop (–13%), followed by Creative (–12%) and Sales & Business Development (–10%) — a pattern consistent with employers holding back on discretionary hiring and prioritising execution over leadership expansion.
HR & Admin (–5%), Procurement & Supply Chain (–5%) and Hospitality (–4%) declined more moderately.
City: Bengaluru extends its lead; smaller metros remain under pressure
Five of the 13 cities tracked registered annual growth, with Bengaluru (+5%) again the strongest, followed by Hyderabad (+4%), Kochi (+2%), Chennai (+2%) and Delhi-NCR (+1%). The concentration of technology, GCC and healthcare hiring in the southern metros continues to insulate them from the broader slowdown.
Mumbai was flat, while Chandigarh (–18%) and Kolkata (–12%) saw the steepest declines. Pune (–7%), Ahmedabad (–5%) and Jaipur (–4%) trailed the metro average, reflecting weaker demand in export-oriented and traditional manufacturing clusters.
Experience: Mid-career professionals stand alone as gainers
- The 7–10 years band was the only experience segment to register annual growth, up 10% year-on-year — a clear signal that employers are prioritising execution-ready professionals over both entry-level and very senior hires. The 11–15 years band was near flat (–2%), while 4–6 years (–7%), 0–3 years (–9%) and 15+ years (–11%) all trailed.
- The pattern is consistent with what the functional-area data shows: firms are pulling back on volume hiring at the junior end and on leadership expansion at the top, while retaining appetite for the mid-career layer that carries delivery and specialised technical work.
In focus: Salary momentum concentrates in AI, healthcare speciality and advanced manufacturing
- Compensation trends in Aug’26 confirm what the hiring data already suggests — pay growth is running fastest where demand is narrowest and most specialised.
- Semiconductors (+9%), Industrial Automation (+8%), Medical Practice (+8%), Data Mining (+7%) and Digital Marketing (+7%) posted the strongest annual salary increases across sub-industries. Automotive (+6%), Medical Devices (+6%), Consumer Electronics (+5%), Civil Engineering (+5%) and Venture Capital/Private Equity (+5%) followed closely.
- At the other end, Printing (–5%), E-Commerce (–3%), Publishing (–3%), Broadcast Media (–2%) and Internet (–2%) saw pay bands compress year-on-year — segments where hiring volumes have also weakened, pointing to genuine wage erosion rather than routine mix shifts.
AI compensation remains sharply location-dependent.
Bengaluru continues to command the highest AI salary bands across every experience level, followed by Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.
For specialised AI roles, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and NCR pay approximately 10–25% more than Pune or Chennai.
The metro-to-Tier-2 gap is wider still: Tier-2 cities pay 28–31% less than metros for equivalent AI roles, with the gap widening at senior levels — 28% at entry, but 31% for 15+ years of experience.
Entry- and mid-level AI talent is becoming increasingly accessible outside the major hubs, but senior specialists remain concentrated where product companies, AI-first startups and GCCs cluster.
About foundit
foundit (formerly Monster APAC & ME) is a leading talent platform for jobseekers and employers across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. With a presence in 11 countries, foundit offers innovative, data-driven solutions that enable candidates to discover opportunities aligned with their skills and aspirations, while helping employers connect with the right talent.
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