White-collar hiring rises 13% in December, logs strongest quarter of 2025: Naukri

India’s white-collar job market closed December 2025 on a strong note, with hiring activity rising 13% year-on-year, according to the Naukri JobSpeak Index. The index stood at 3,001 points in December, compared with 2,651 points in the same month last year, marking the highest quarterly growth recorded in 2025.

The momentum was driven by robust hiring across non-tech sectors such as Hospitality, Insurance and Real Estate, alongside sustained demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) roles. Hospitality hiring rose 29% year-on-year, Insurance grew 34%, while Real Estate posted a 21% increase. AI/ML roles continued to see sharp traction, with hiring up 53%.

Fresher hiring grew 18% during the month, while demand for senior roles offering annual compensation of over Rs 20 lakh rose 27%, indicating a broad-based recovery across experience levels.

Sectors such as BPO/ITES, Hospitality and Insurance showed a clear acceleration in hiring through the year. These segments moved from single-digit growth—or even contraction in the case of BPO/ITES—during the January–March period to strong double-digit growth by October–December. BPO/ITES hiring rose 20% in the December quarter, while Hospitality and Insurance recorded growth of 25% and 19%, respectively.

High-value roles continued to gain traction, particularly within IT and information security functions. Hiring for positions offering salaries of over Rs 20 lakh per annum in IT and InfoSec rose 42% year-on-year. Cybersecurity roles such as Application Security Engineer (+52%), Manager – Information Security (+50%), System Security Engineer (+48%), Security Architect/Consultant (+43%) and Security Administrator (+37%) saw strong demand.

Entry-level hiring ended the year on a positive note, with non-tech sectors accounting for the bulk of new opportunities. Fresher hiring in Hospitality and Insurance rose 56% each, followed by BPO/ITES at 44% and Real Estate at 43%, highlighting expanding avenues for young professionals.

Hiring by unicorns also picked up pace, rising 21% year-on-year in December. Southern metros led the growth, with Chennai posting a 45% increase and Hyderabad growing 30%. Internet and e-commerce unicorns were the key drivers, recording a 22% rise in hiring.

“The consistent strength in non-tech sectors throughout the year—culminating in the strongest quarter at 9% growth in October–December—shows this shift is now well entrenched. It is also encouraging to see these sectors steadily opening up more entry-level opportunities," said Dr Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer at Naukri.