India’s hiring landscape in June 2026: Insights from the foundit Insight Tracker 

Overview of hiring activity 

India’s white-collar job market stayed subdued in June 2026. The foundit Insights Tracker recorded a 9% year-on-year decline and a 5% month-on-month contraction, with the three-month reading at −11% and the six-month reading at −12% — every tracked horizon in negative territory this edition. The pullback was broad-based rather than concentrated in a single sector, reflecting continued caution in permanent hiring as organisations reassess headcount plans. 

• Year-on-year: −9% 

• Month-on-month: −5% 

• Three-month: −11% 

• Six-month: −12% 

Against this backdrop, one segment moved in the opposite direction. India’s Global Capability Centre (GCC) ecosystem hired 11% more in the first half of 2026 and is on track to cross five lakh jobs for the year — a divergence covered in full in the GCC section below. 

Hiring Trends in India- June’26 Download

 
Industry hiring trends 

9 out of 26 tracked industries recorded a year-on-year increase in hiring in June, with consumer, healthcare and industrial sectors offsetting steep declines in trade-linked and outsourcing-heavy segments. No industry posted positive month-on-month growth this edition. 

 
In demand 

 
Travel & Tourism led all sectors at +35% YoY (−2% MoM), supported by continued strength in hospitality and travel-related roles.  
 
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals followed at +11% YoY (−3% MoM), and Automotive at +9% YoY (−1% MoM), both underpinned by durable demand rather than a soft year-ago base.  
 
Construction & Engineering and Real Estate both grew +5% YoY, while FMCG (+4% YoY) and Manufacturing (+3% YoY) rounded out the resilient group. 

 
Facing challenges 

Media & Entertainment was roughly flat at −1% YoY, while IT – Software & Services declined −6% YoY and BFSI fell −9% YoY.  
 
Energy (−12% YoY) and Retail (−18% YoY) softened further, and trade-exposed sectors saw the steepest corrections:  
 
Logistics & Transportation fell −23% YoY and Import & Export declined −30% YoY, the steepest drop of any tracked industry. 

 
Functional hiring trends 

 
6 of 13 tracked functions recorded positive annual growth in June, though the month-on-month trend was uniformly negative — no function grew sequentially this edition. 

 
In demand 

Medical roles led functional growth at +21% YoY (−2% MoM), followed by Marketing & Communications at +20% YoY (−2% MoM) and IT at +18% YoY (−2% MoM) — demand here is shifting from traditional software delivery toward AI engineering, data platform and cybersecurity roles.  
 
Engineering & Production grew +9% YoY, while Legal and Finance & Accounting both posted +4% YoY. 

 
Holding steady 

Hospitality and Customer Service were both flat year-on-year, neither adding to nor detracting from the overall functional picture. 

 
Facing challenges 

Procurement & Supply Chain eased −1% YoY, and Senior Management reversed to −2% YoY after leading growth a year earlier.  
 
HR & Admin declined −4% YoY, while Sales & Business Development (−9% YoY) and Creative (−11% YoY) posted the steepest annual declines, reflecting tighter discretionary and growth-team budgets. 

City-wise hiring trends 

6 of 13 tracked cities recorded positive annual growth in June. Bengaluru led the pack while Chandigarh posted the steepest pullback. 

 
In demand 

Bengaluru led with +9% YoY (0% MoM), followed by Hyderabad at +5% YoY (0% MoM) and Delhi-NCR at +4% YoY (0% MoM) — all three essentially flat month-on-month while still holding annual gains.  
Mumbai and Chennai both grew +3% YoY, matched by Coimbatore (+3% YoY), though Mumbai’s −4% MoM reading shows it losing momentum sequentially even as the annual trend holds. 

 
Facing challenges 

Kochi and Jaipur both eased −1% YoY, while Pune (−4% YoY) and Ahmedabad (−5% YoY) softened further.  
Vadodara declined −10% YoY and Kolkata fell −14% YoY, while Chandigarh posted the steepest annual decline at −19% YoY. 

 
Experience level trends 

Mid-senior professionals were the only cohort to hold up in June, while entry- and associate-level hiring saw the steepest annual declines. 

• 7–10 years: +6% YoY, −4% MoM — the only band with meaningful annual growth 

• 11–15 years: +1% YoY, −2% MoM — broadly stable 

• >15 years: −3% YoY, −3% MoM 

• 0–3 years: −6% YoY, −4% MoM 

• 4–6 years: −10% YoY, −4% MoM — the steepest annual decline of any band 

 
India’s GCC ecosystem: the counter-narrative 

While the broader market contracted, India’s GCC ecosystem is on track to add 510,452 jobs in 2026, a 12% increase over 2025 and the first time annual GCC recruitment has crossed the five-lakh mark.  
 
The country has already recorded 227,991 GCC hires in the first half of 2026, up 11% year-on-year, across nearly 2,120 centres — a divergence of roughly 20 percentage points against the overall index.  
 
Nearly two in three new GCC roles (64%) now require AI, data science or intelligent automation skills, up from just 11% in 2021.  
 
Tier 2 cities are the fastest-growing geography within the ecosystem, expanding 23% year-on-year — almost twice the pace of the metro average — aided by attrition of 8–12% against 18–22% in Tier 1 cities. 

GCC hiring has grown 3.4-fold since 2021, a 27.4% compound annual growth rate over five years — outpacing centre additions (up roughly 32% since 2021), a sign of existing GCCs deepening their mandates rather than growth coming purely from new centre set-ups. 

 
GCC industry trends 

Technology & Software and BFSI & FinTech together account for 56% of all GCC hiring, but the fastest movers aren’t the largest ones: 

•  
  Healthcare  & Life Sciences (11% share) is growing fastest of all at +31% YoY — med-tech, regulatory analytics and clinical data roles are pulling this sector past its historical weight in the ecosystem. 
   

• Technology & Software (35% share, +34% YoY) and BFSI & FinTech (21% share, +29% YoY) remain the largest sectors and are still growing near the top of the pack — scale and growth rate are reinforcing each other rather than trading off. 
   

• Automotive & Mobility (6%, +26% YoY) and Manufacturing & Industrial (9%, +24% YoY) are converting EV, localisation and software-defined vehicle programmes into GCC headcount, not just factory-floor hiring. 
   

• Energy, Chemicals & Others (2% share, +17% YoY) is the slowest-growing sector, but even here growth is firmly positive — there’s no genuinely weak spot in this year’s industry mix. 

 
Hiring intensity: only BFSI & FinTech (1.17x) and Technology & Software (1.13x) are hiring above their GCC footprint — adding roles faster than they’re adding centres, a sign of deepening mandates rather than more GCCs simply opening. Every other sector sits at or below parity, down to Energy, Chemicals & Others at 0.50x, suggesting their growth is coming more from new centre set-ups than from existing GCCs scaling up. 

 
GCC functional trends 
 

IT & Software Development is still the largest function by volume (31% share, +14% YoY), but the growth story has clearly moved to the functions built around AI: 
 

• AI, Data Science & Analytics (18% share) is the fastest-growing function in the entire GCC ecosystem at +38% YoY — more than double the pace of core software development, and the clearest evidence AI skills are becoming the primary hiring filter rather than a bonus capability. 
   

• Cloud & Cybersecurity (11%, +22% YoY) and Engineering & Product R&D (16%, +16% YoY) are close behind — together with AI, these are where GCCs are building genuine product and platform ownership rather than execution capacity. 
   

• The legacy operations functions — BFSI Operations & Shared Services, Finance & Accounting, HR and Legal — are all growing at roughly a third the pace of AI, Data Science & Analytics. They aren’t shrinking, but they’re clearly no longer where the ecosystem’s energy is concentrated. 

More than 45% of new GCC hiring now sits in engineering, AI, cloud and product roles — the shift from cost centre to capability hub is showing up in the hiring mix itself, not just headline job numbers. 

GCC experience trends 
 

• 4–6 years (34% share, +12% YoY) is the largest single band — the sweet spot for professionals who can own a workstream in engineering, AI or transformation programmes without a long ramp-up. 
   

• 7–10 years (22%, +9% YoY) adds further weight to the mid-career skew; together the 4–10 year bands make up 56% of all GCC hiring — depth hiring for delivery capability, not just headcount. 
   

• 0–3 years (30% share) is the fastest-growing cohort at +18% YoY — a notable reversal of the old assumption that GCCs mainly poach experienced talent, driven largely by expansion into Tier 2 cities where early-career pipelines are more readily available than senior lateral talent. 

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.