Mumbai The number of employees in various industries is estimated to increase by 5.4 percent in the second half of the current financial year. Strong hiring demand from e-commerce and technology startups, travel and hospitality and retail is expected to drive employment growth.
According to the latest employment outlook report by recruitment services provider TeamLease Services, the estimate of 'net employment change' (NEC) for the October-March period of FY 2026-27 has increased to 5.4 per cent from 4.7 per cent in the April-September half. This is the highest level in the last four half-years.
“The forecast 5.4 per cent employment growth in the second half reflects a shift towards increasing headcount in a more targeted manner,” said A Balasubramanian, senior vice president, TeamLease Services. Companies are taking recruitment decisions keeping in mind the changing demand.
This will require employers to expand their talent pool, accelerate skill development and adopt more flexible workforce models, he said. The report's findings are based on responses from 1,239 employers across 23 industries and 20 cities in the month of July-August.
The report says that the net employment change in the e-commerce and technology startup sector is estimated to be 12.6 percent. This is followed by travel and hospitality sector with 12.3 percent and retail sector with 10.3 percent. Employment growth in the automobile sector is estimated at 10.1 percent, in the electric vehicle (EV) and EV infrastructure sector at 9.7 percent and in the banking sector at 9.2 percent. In terms of size, 66 percent of large enterprises have expressed their intention to increase the number of employees. At the same time, this ratio is 59 percent in medium-sized enterprises and 53 percent in startup, micro and small businesses.
Bengaluru is at the forefront of recruitment intentions
Among cities, Bengaluru leads with 68 percent hiring intention. After this, Hyderabad is at 61 percent and Pune is at 60 percent. In this half year, the intention to appoint has increased the most in Pune. However, availability of talent remains a major challenge in converting hiring intentions into actual headcount growth.
72% employers fear difficulty in recruitment
Of the employers planning to recruit, 72 percent expect moderate to severe recruitment difficulties. 39 percent of the companies in Information Technology (IT), 38 percent in Sales and Marketing and 32 percent in Engineering have expressed fear of challenges in recruitment. According to the report, it takes an average of 35-45 days to fill a position and more time is required to fill specialized and location-based positions.
85% employers are using AI or GenAI
The report also revealed a gap between the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and its widespread adoption by employees. Nearly 85 percent of employers are using AI or GenAI at some level, but only 13 percent of organizations are using it at the level of more than half of their employees. This shows that the use of AI in companies is widespread, but still limited. Most organizations are adopting AI tools into existing roles, rather than changing the workforce structure on a large scale.
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