New Delhi, August 20 (IANS). Hiring during the festival season in India is likely to increase by 15-20 per cent in the second half of 2026, resulting in the creation of around 2-2.5 lakh temporary, contract and gig-based employment opportunities. This information has come to light in the report of recruitment solutions and workforce management company NLB Services released on Thursday.
According to the NLB Services report, sectors like e-commerce, quick commerce, retail trade, logistics, hospitality, travel and consumer services are expected to witness the highest recruitment. The special thing is that this year not only the recruitment numbers are increasing, but a big change is also being seen in the recruitment strategy of the companies.
According to the report, whereas earlier companies used to recruit a large number of employees at the last minute due to increased festive demand, now they are preparing the workforce in a more planned manner. Many companies are now starting the recruitment process 12 to 14 weeks before the start of the festive season to avoid operational challenges.
Varun Sachdeva, senior vice president and head of Asia-Pacific region (APAC), NLB Services, said that the festive season has now become a real test of sorts for India's labor market and this is showing a big change in the behavior of employers.
“Employers are hiring faster than ever, looking beyond traditional talent hubs to new areas and relying more on technology-enabled, flexible and ready-to-work workforces,” he said.
According to Sachdeva, what was once considered a mere way to meet seasonal needs has now become a strategic opportunity for companies to identify new talent and create a future permanent employee base. He believes that the impact of festive recruitment will no longer be limited to festivals only, but can also translate into long-term employment opportunities.
The report said that traditionally delivery, warehouse management, field operations and hospitality sectors will continue to be the major sources of recruitment. However, the expansion of the technology-based consumer economy is also creating demand for new roles, including dark store inventory controllers, returns and refund specialists, customer resolution officers, marketplace operations specialists, fraud and transaction support personnel, catalog management officers, and order management specialists.
According to the report, this change shows that the role of technology in India's consumer economy is continuously increasing. Jobs that were previously considered solely operations based have now become more dependent on data, automation, digital platforms and real-time decisions.
Another important trend is that festival recruitment is no longer limited to metros only. The share of second and third tier cities is continuously increasing.
According to the report, around 45 per cent of the total festive recruitment demand is likely to come from such cities and recruitment in these markets may increase by 25 to 30 per cent.
Employment opportunities are expected to grow more rapidly in cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Surat, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Kochi. E-commerce, quick commerce, organized retail trade and expansion of regional distribution networks are boosting recruitment activities in these cities.
–IANS
DBP