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Festive hiring in India set to rise 15-20 pc, generate up to 2.5 lakh seasonal jobs: Report
In Short
India’s festive hiring is expected to rise 15-20% in 2026, creating up to 2.5 lakh seasonal and gig jobs across e-commerce, retail, logistics, hospitality and consumer services, according to a report.
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India's white-collar hiring rises 14 pc in August
New Delhi: Festive hiring in India is expected to grow 15-20 per cent in the second half of 2026, generating around 2-2.5 lakh seasonal and gig opportunities across e-commerce, quick commerce, retail, logistics, hospitality, travel and consumer services, a report said on Thursday.
The data compiled by NLB Services said the key shift this year is not merely the increase in hiring but the way companies are preparing for the seasonal surge. Businesses are increasingly moving away from last-minute, volume-driven recruitment towards structured workforce planning, with employers beginning preparations nearly 12-14 weeks before the festive peak.
Varun Sachdeva, SVP and APAC Head, NLB Services, said the festive season was becoming a real-time stress test for India's workforce and pointed to a fundamental shift in employer behaviour.
“The festive season is becoming a real-time stress test for India's workforce-and the results are pointing to a fundamental shift. Employers are hiring earlier, looking beyond traditional talent hubs and increasingly relying on technology-enabled, flexible and ready-to-deploy talent," he stated.
"What was once a short-term response to seasonal demand is becoming a strategic opportunity to access new talent pools, assess capabilities at scale and create pathways to longer-term employment. The real impact of festive hiring, therefore, may extend well beyond the festive season itself," Sachdeva mentioned.
management, field operations and hospitality will continue to account for a large share of hiring, demand is also rising for dark-store inventory controllers, returns and refunds specialists, customer-resolution executives, marketplace operations professionals, fraud and transaction-support personnel, catalogue management executives and order-management specialists.
The changing hiring pattern reflects the increasing role of technology in India's consumption economy. Roles that were traditionally viewed as purely operational are becoming more dependent on digital platforms, data, automation and real-time decision-making.
Festive hiring is also becoming increasingly distributed beyond major metropolitan centres. Tier-II and Tier-III cities are expected to account for around 45 per cent of total festive hiring demand, with recruitment in these markets projected to grow 25-30 per cent.
Cities including Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Surat, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Kochi are expected to see stronger demand as e-commerce, quick commerce, organised retail and regional fulfilment networks expand.
