India’s Hiring Activity Falls 12% in July 2026 as Nearly One in Three Fresher Roles Becomes an Internship or Contract: foundit Insights Tracker 

Overall hiring activity 

India’s white-collar job market extended its contraction through July 2026. The foundit Insights Tracker recorded a 12% year-on-year and 5% month-on-month decline in overall hiring, with the fall deepening over the medium term — down 15% over three months and 17% over six. 

The pullback was broad-based rather than concentrated in any single sector, with eighteen of the twenty-six industries monitored closing lower on the year. Employers have moved from broad-based expansion to targeted recruitment, holding headcount in specialist and regulated work while trimming the volume-driven roles added during the last growth run. 

That backdrop makes the shift in fresher hiring the defining theme of the month. While the headline index fell, entry-level demand contracted less than the market and changed sharply in its composition and terms. 

• Overall index: −12% YoY, −5% MoM, −15% over three months, −17% over six — a broad-based slowdown across permanent white-collar hiring. 

• Fresher hiring: −10% YoY — contracting less than the market, but shifting from volume to composition, and from permanent roles to internships and contracts. 

Domestic demand leads as export-facing sectors decline 

Eight of the twenty-six monitored industries grew annually.  
 
Travel & Tourism posted the strongest expansion at 17%, supported by sustained domestic leisure demand, wider regional air connectivity and continued hotel development; its 6% monthly dip reflects the seasonal drop after peak-summer recruitment rather than a change in underlying demand. Automotive followed at 10%, with hiring concentrated in electric-vehicle assembly, battery systems and component localisation under the PLI schemes. 

Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals grew 8% on hospital-network expansion into tier-2 markets, while Real Estate gained 8% on the year and 2% over the month — the only industry positive on both horizons at that scale — as commercial leasing and residential launches held firm. 

At the other end, Logistics & Transportation and Import & Export recorded the steepest contractions, falling 25% and 23% respectively, weighed down by softer external demand and the automation of warehouse and documentation roles. Retail and Printing & Packaging each shed 20%, reflecting consolidation among physical-format operators, particularly outside the metros. 

Among the shallower declines, IT – Software & Services eased 6% and BFSI 5%, both well inside the market’s 12% fall; BFSI’s 2% monthly gain in compliance, risk and digital lending suggests it sits closer to a floor than the broader index. Chemicals & Plastics declined 25% annually yet rose 3% over the month, an early sign of stabilisation from a low base. 

Marketing and medical roles lead the functional shift 

Six of the thirteen occupation groups grew on the year. Marketing & Communications recorded the strongest growth at 22%, as budgets moved from brand-led spend towards measurable acquisition — performance marketing, analytics and content operations — which calls for a more technical skill profile; hiring was strongest in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi/NCR. Medical Roles followed at 20%, sustained by hospital capacity additions, diagnostics-chain expansion and a continued shortage of qualified clinical staff outside the metros. 

IT rose 10% even as the IT industry declined 6% — technology roles are increasingly hired outside technology companies, within GCCs, manufacturing and financial services. Engineering & Production gained 8%, tracking automotive and electronics capacity under the PLI schemes, and Legal rose 6% as regulatory and data-governance workloads increased. 

Sales & Business Development fell 12%, the sharpest decline of any function, as employers consolidated field and inside-sales structures and shifted acquisition spend towards digital channels. Senior Management declined 8%, consistent with the flattening of organisational layers during a slower cycle, while Creative and Hospitality each eased 5%. Customer Service was precisely flat, with automation displacing volume roles at roughly the rate new support functions are created. 

Hiring consolidates back into the metros 

Hiring moved back into the big cities in July, reversing the tier-2 growth of recent cycles. Five of the seven metros grew, led by Bengaluru at 9% on GCC expansion and product-engineering hiring, Mumbai at 6% on financial services, media and corporate roles, and Chennai and Hyderabad at around 5% each; Delhi/NCR was marginally positive at 1%. 

Every tier-2 city monitored declined. Chandigarh fell 19%, the steepest drop of any city, followed by Vadodara at 11% and Kolkata at 10%, while Kochi, Coimbatore and Jaipur held within two points of flat. The reversal is the more telling signal: tier-2 markets led growth through much of the previous cycle, and their retreat suggests distributed hiring expands during growth phases and contracts first when employers consolidate. 

Monthly readings ran counter to the annual picture. The four fastest-growing metros were also the softest over the month, each easing around 2%, while Kolkata rose 2% from a low base. 

Only mid-senior roles expand 

Only one experience band grew on the year. Mid-senior hiring (7–10 years) rose 11%, the sole cohort positive over six months, as employers competed for proven specialists. Senior roles (11–15 years) held close to flat at −1%, concentrated in regulated functions. 

Entry-level hiring (0–3 years) fell 10%, a real contraction but shallower than the market, while associate demand (4–6 years) eased 8% as replacement hiring was deferred. Leadership hiring (15+ years) declined 8% as organisations flattened reporting structures. 

Fresher hiring falls less than the market as its shape changes 

Fresher hiring is where the change in what employers want shows most clearly. Entry-level demand fell 10% year-on-year — a genuine contraction, but shallower than the market’s 12% — and eased 2% over the month. What shifted most was not the number of graduate jobs but their kind, their terms, and the bar a candidate must clear to be considered. 

GCCs become the fastest-growing employer of freshers 

Global capability centres are the story of entry-level hiring, lifting their share from 8% to 11% — the fastest expansion of any employer type in a year the overall market shrank 12%. India’s capability centres are on course for roughly 510,000 hires in 2026, around two-thirds of them asking for AI, data or automation skills, which is why demand clusters in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. 

Indian corporates remain the largest fresher employer at 34% but gave up two points, recruiting smaller batches against tighter briefs. Startups fell to 16%, the sharpest drop of any category, as slower funding pushed them towards a few well-defined hires, while MNCs edged up to 27%. The same retreat is visible at industry level, where IT still hires more freshers than any sector at 24% but has shed eight points in a year, even as Retail rose to 8% on store and online-order staffing and BFSI reached 8% on compliance, service and digital-lending work. 

Demand shifts to medical and AI-led roles as IT retreats 

By function, IT remains the largest fresher destination at 22% but has given up four points, while Medical Roles gained the most, rising from 7% to 11% as hospital chains and diagnostics labs opened faster than smaller cities could staff them. Sales & Business Development grew to 20% even as overall sales hiring fell 12% — a specific trade, with employers cutting experienced sales staff and filling the space with cheaper entry-level headcount. 

AI-led roles moved from around 1% of fresher postings to 4% in a year, a fourfold rise. Within them, AI/ML Engineer (28%) and Data Analyst (24%) account for more than half, pointing to demand for people who can put working systems into production rather than research them. These roles pay at the top of the fresher range in a market where two-thirds of entry-level jobs pay under ₹5 LPA. 

Internships and contracts reshape the terms of entry 

The entry bar has widened rather than risen. STEM disciplines account for 42% of fresher openings and Management & Commerce a further 32%, yet 15% of postings specify no formal qualification at all — employers are tightening technical requirements at one end while removing the degree filter at the other. 

The clearest shift is in how freshers are taken on. Internships, contract and project roles rose from 12% of entry-level openings in 2024 to 32% so far in 2026, with the full year likely to close near 35%. Nearly six in ten postings now expect prior internship experience, most commonly three to six months. The trial period that once ran three months on payroll now runs six to twelve months before it — deferring cost and commitment for employers, and pushing the real start of a career further out for graduates. 

Pay splits the graduating class in two 

65% of fresher roles offer below ₹5 LPA, the largest single band being ₹3–5 LPA at 41%. Premium roles at ₹8 LPA and above account for 12%, and only 3% exceed ₹12 LPA — almost all in AI, data science, cybersecurity, semiconductor and product-engineering work. Despite the fall in volume, employers continued to pay above market for skills-first roles. 

The same graduating class now faces two markets: a large one paying under ₹5 LPA for work anyone can be trained to do, and a much smaller one paying well for a narrow set of technical skills most graduates do not yet have. 

About foundit 

foundit, formerly Monster (APAC & ME), is a leading talent platform offering comprehensive employment solutions to recruiters and job seekers across APAC & ME. In addition to a powerful AI-powered job search, foundit offers e-learning, assessments, and services related to resume creation, interview preparation, and professional networking. Since its inception, the company has assisted over 120 million job seekers across 18 countries in upskilling and connecting them with the right job opportunities.