Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), one of India's largest employers, may have reduced its new hirings by as much as 90,000 in fiscal year 2026 (FY26) from the previous year. The sharp recruitment decline comes at a time when conglomerates are increasingly focusing on upskilling existing employees in artificial intelligence (AI) and redesigning roles in their current talent pool, rather than expanding workforce.
This loss of recruiting appetite signals a worrying trend at a time when advent of AI, global wars, supply chain crisis and a stringent economy has dampened many a hiring plan.
"As of March 31, 2026, the Group's headcount is 4.19 lakh+, comprising 1 lakh+ new hires, with focused recruitment in AI, data science, automation and digital transformation," the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate said in its FY26 annual report, published on its website last week.
When compared with the previous fiscal’s report, the drop is clear. “During FY 2024-25, Reliance on‑boarded over 1.9 lakh new hires,” the earlier annual report had said.
While the latest report does not specify the exact number of recruits beyond "1 lakh+", the reduction could be close to 90,000. The FY24 report showed the company had then hired 171,116 employees.
Jio Platforms Ltd., which houses the digital services and telecom arm, had a headcount of 74,822 end FY26, down almost 21% from 94,523 a year ago, the report said.
According to a company executive, one reason for the decline in headcount is a new career option in the Reliance Jio home business, where employees in smaller markets can become 'micro entrepreneurs' instead of full-time employees. A micro entrepreneur oversees installation and maintenance of home business products in a specific city area and is compensated per installation.
The media and entertainment business had 10,295 employees, a drop of 8% from 11,186 in FY25. The oil to chemicals industry, one of its older businesses, employed 28,051 in FY26 versus 29,985 in FY25, over 6% fewer. However, the retail business showed a 17% rise in workforce, with 2,90,293 at the end of March 2026, from 2,47,782 in FY25.
RIL did not respond to Mint’s queries on its hiring.
Recruiters highlight other reasons as well. “There are two reasons that could be possible for the drop (in new hires)—redeployment due to AI, and a poor job market that is preventing voluntary exit of employees," said Aditya Narayan Mishra, managing director and chief executive of recruitment firm CIEL HR Services Ltd, adding that 90,000 was "a big drop”.
The overall workforce at Reliance has, however, continued to grow. The conglomerate, preparing to list its telecom and digital services arm, Jio Platforms Ltd, has steadily expanded its employee base from 347,362 in FY24 to 419,911 end FY26.
Lower employee attrition could be a factor here, recruitment industry experts said. Reliance has not disclosed voluntary and involuntary attrition numbers.
A broader trend?
Recruiters estimate that lower hiring will likely get reflected across other business houses as well.
"We could see other conglomerates go slow on hiring fresh talent on back of global uncertainties and implementation of AI,” said Mishra.
Corporate structures are undergoing significant changes to reflect the new requirements. “The traditional pyramid structure is becoming less effective. The manager-to-employee ratio is shifting from 6–8 employees per manager to 10–12 employees per manager," said Kamal Karanth, co-founder of recruitment firm Xpheno Pvt Ltd.
He estimates that over the next 12 months, hiring demand could decline around 10%. "At the same time, AI is likely to take over some routine and mundane jobs,” Karanth added.
Recruitment firms have for some time warned that companies are becoming increasingly conservative about replacing employees who leave, focusing instead on achieving more with fewer people.
"The customer-facing junior layer is no longer expanding. Some large business houses, who are losing talent to e-commerce and internet firms, are no longer replacing employees in the middle layer at the same rate as before,” noted Karanth.
RIL's latest annual report also highlights the talent-management risks. “As businesses scale rapidly, the need for skilled and future-ready talent becomes critical. Rapid growth in store networks, digital channels, new energy and supply chain operations may create pressure on leadership capacity, frontline staffing, and specialized capabilities,” it said.
The conglomerate said its management "periodically reviews attrition trends, productivity metrics, and talent pipeline readiness to ensure alignment with growth objectives". Its spending on overall employee benefits increased to ₹30,318 crore in FY26 from ₹28,559 crore in FY25.
Top-rung trend
CXO-level hiring is relatively unaffected compared to middle-management hiring. However, at the layers directly reporting to the C-suite, there is likely to be considerable impact, says Suresh Raina, partner and member of the global industrial practice at Heidrick & Struggles India, an executive search firm.
“AI adoption is forcing leaders to rethink the organizational and operating models, making many functions and operating units leaner, by taking over work previously handled by teams, led by the managers. As a result of these productivity gains, roles at the N-2 level (two levels below the top layer) and below are likely to get redefined and repurposed quickly,” Raina said.
Organizations that effectively drive enterprise AI adoption will benefit through greater productivity, speed, cost-efficiency, and certainly better decision-making, he said.
“The challenge for leaders is not simply reducing headcount, but repurposing teams and reallocating resources to recognize this inflexion point,” the search firm partner said.