India's Festive Hiring Rises 7% as White-Collar Recruitment Cools

The report said the contrasting trends point to a concentrated increase in hiring across sectors linked to consumer demand, fulfilment and seasonal activity.

Quick commerce recorded the strongest growth in festive hiring, with job opportunities rising 18 per cent year-on-year. E-commerce followed with a 12 per cent increase, while logistics and transportation hiring grew 10 per cent.

Seasonal recruitment is also spreading beyond India's major metropolitan centres, with Tier-II and emerging cities recording faster growth. Early-career professionals continue to account for a significant share of festive-season hiring.

Festive hiring has expanded steadily over the past three years, rising from 98,120 jobs in 2024 to 1,18,750 in 2025 and 1,27,080 in 2026.

Travel and hospitality hiring increased by more than 6 per cent, while media and entertainment and retail recorded gains of more than 5 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

The report also found that white-collar gig and freelance hiring increased 15 per cent year-on-year, indicating greater reliance on flexible talent as businesses prepare for seasonal increases in demand.

Foundit CEO Tarun Sinha said the strong demand for early-career workers reflected companies' focus on building agile and digitally capable workforces that can scale with changing demand.

He added that as consumer activity becomes increasingly distributed beyond major cities, employment opportunities are also expected to follow that broader geographic trend.

Metropolitan areas accounted for 56 per cent of festive white-collar vacancies but recorded only 3 per cent year-on-year growth.

Tier-II cities accounted for 27 per cent of festive-season jobs and recorded an 11 per cent increase, while Tier-III and emerging cities, which represented 17 per cent of the total, registered the fastest growth at 15 per cent.

Cities including Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Surat, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Kochi were among those witnessing increased hiring demand during the 2026 festive season.

The data indicates that while the broader white-collar employment market has moderated, seasonal demand is continuing to generate opportunities across consumer-facing sectors and increasingly across smaller cities.