Many of India's top companies dialled down on fresh hires in the last two years, at a time of rising cost controls and the advance of automation.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, total new hires at nine companies fell 27% in FY26 compared to FY24 while two companies hired more, a Mint analysis found. The remaining companies either do not disclose or only partially disclose fresh hiring numbers.
Among the Sensex companies, Reliance Industries Ltd, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Bharti Airtel Ltd, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, Axis Bank Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, Asian Paints Ltd, Tata Steel Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd and PowerGrid Corp. have declared their new hiring numbers since at least FY24. All except SBI and PowerGrid have reported lower hiring during the period. Among the remaining 18, some declare only campus hires, while some do not have data for the previous years, and hence their numbers can't be compared to a previous period.
"Companies have seen an improvement in productivity levels with lesser headcount being required to drive a growing topline—some of this might be a function of greater presence of third-party headcount that doesn't feature in the absolute employee numbers or additions—but most of this is on account of productivity benefits," noted Anandorup Ghose, partner at consulting firm Deloitte India. Ghose advises on rewards, compensation structure across India Inc.
Hiring yo-yo
The data also shows how companies have yo-yoed in their hiring cycles over the last two fiscal years. Take the case of the top three BSE 30 firms: Reliance Industries' new hires rose from 170,000 to 190,000 between FY24 and FY25, only to plummet to 100,000 in FY26. Meanwhile, HDFC Bank's numbers went from 89,115 in FY24 to 45,902 in FY26. Bharti Airtel hired 5,956 about three fiscals ago, and then the numbers dropped to 3,751 in FY26.
Two public sector companies reported an increase in hiring.
SBI, India's largest public sector bank, recruited 10,661 in FY24; the number went down to 1,770 in the following fiscal year but shot up to 25,633 in FY26. In its latest annual report, the state-run bank breaks down its new recruits, showing it hired 4,640 officers, 19,340 associates, and 1,653 contractual staff in FY26. Power Grid, another state-owned company, also saw a rise in new hires, adding 1280 in FY26, a jump from just 431.
Consultants keeping a watch across sectors point out that the recent West Asia War and, prior to that, the Russia-Ukraine war dented hiring momentum in the last few years.
"This challenge is further compounded by broader macroeconomic concerns, including geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. As a result, even organizations that are performing well financially are adopting a cautious approach towards new investments and hiring decisions," said Rajul Mathur, head of Work and Rewards, India for advisory firm WTW.
In an emailed response, Tata Steel said the hiring volumes were significantly higher in the previous two years "due to talent requirements arising from the expansion projects at Tata Steel Kalinganagar". The Indian business recruited 3,898 in FY24, and the number of new hires fell to 1,326 in FY26, the annual report of India's second-largest steelmaker showed.
"Roles that are largely transactional, repetitive, or helpdesk-oriented are seeing reduced manpower requirements as AI-powered tools and digital solutions enable more efficient service delivery," said the firm in an email response to Mint's queries. However, the company, which employs over 70,000 employees, noted that this trend "is likely to continue as automation capabilities mature, although workforce requirements will continue to evolve alongside changing business and operational needs".
Queries emailed to the other companies named remained unanswered.
Financial services
"The financial services sector as a whole is maturing with a large underbelly of under-serviced demographic not exposed to basic financial products around savings, credit, insurance, investment products and securities, leading to organic growth and possible headcount increases," said Jang Bahadur Singh, associate director, Talent Solutions, India, for consulting firm Aon.
To be sure, Mint could not independently ascertain if the new hiring numbers were of only temporary or permanent employees or both.
According to Ghose of Deloitte, revenue per employee appears to be rising in a range of sectors. This also means compensation cost per employee is likely going up, indicating the hiring of higher-skilled professionals, and therefore, possibly a move away perhaps from absolute freshers.
"I would attribute this to automation in general, beyond just AI. With increased usage of technology and automation at work, the employee capability requirement also goes up – more complex tools require lesser people but with more complex training or skills," he said.