India’s job market demonstrated strong resilience in 2025, recording over 9 crore applications on Apna.co amid a 29% year-on-year increase driven by women, freshers, SMB digitisation, and AI-powered recruitment. The “India at Work 2025” report highlights a distributed workforce as service-led hiring expands across Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 cities while enterprises decentralise operations.
Applications and Postings Across City Tiers
Employers posted approximately 14 lakh jobs, marking a 15% rise from the previous year, supported by small and medium business digital adoption and enterprise expansion into non-metro areas. SMBs contributed around 10 lakh postings, up 11%, while enterprises accounted for 4 lakh roles, growing 14%. Demand spanned BFSI, retail, logistics, e-commerce, healthcare, mobility, and IT services, with emerging hubs like Lucknow, Jaipur, Indore, Surat, and Chandigarh showing sharp increases.
Tier 1 cities remained dominant, but Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets drove faster growth, reflecting geographically distributed hiring patterns aligned with India surpassing Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP.
Women’s Strong Participation and Leadership Gains
Women submitted over 3.8 crore applications, representing a 36% year-on-year surge. Tier 1 cities generated about 2 crore applications, while Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities added roughly 1.8 crore, with nearly 30% growth in emerging markets. Median salaries for women increased by an estimated 22%, particularly in finance, administrative services, customer experience, and healthcare support roles.
Notably, women’s applications for managerial and senior positions exceeded 1.1 crore, a 35% jump, strengthening leadership pipelines. BFSI, healthcare, education, retail, and e-commerce captured over 40% of women’s applications, aligning with Periodic Labour Force Survey data showing improved female labour force participation.
Freshers Fuel Entry-Level Demand
Freshers contributed over 2.2 crore applications, up 10% from 2024, with sustained demand for formal entry-level service roles. Tier 1 cities accounted for 0.9 crore applications, while Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities generated nearly 1.3 crore, underscoring opportunity spread. Preferences shifted toward administrative services, customer experience, digital operations, and finance-accounting, away from voice-heavy and field-intensive positions.
Over 19 lakh freshers held diploma, undergraduate, or postgraduate qualifications, indicating better education-market alignment. Nearly 1 crore young people entered the workforce annually, shaping hiring momentum across technology-enabled industries.
Enterprise and SMB Hiring Patterns
Enterprises posted 4 lakh roles, rising 14%, as large firms decentralised support functions into non-metro markets. Key recruiters included Wipro Enterprises, HDFC ERGO, ITC, Tata 1mg, Policybazaar, Ola Electric, Quess Corp, and Swiggy, with strongest demand in BFSI, logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, and technology operations.
SMBs anchored employment creation with 10 lakh postings, particularly in education, healthcare services, retail, financial services, and wellness. Women and freshers dominated SMB applicant pools for customer experience, administrative coordination, digital operations, and finance support roles.
AI Transforms Recruitment Workflows
Apna.co conducted over 73 lakh AI interview sessions, accumulating more than 1.9 crore AI interview minutes. The AI Job Prep tool, launched in May 2025, gained traction among freshers, women re-entering the workforce, and Tier 2/3 candidates, covering software development, product management, data analysis, accounting, digital marketing, and sales. Preferred employers included Google, Tesla, Swiggy, Microsoft, Jio, and Flipkart.
Over 6,000 employers adopted the AI Calling Agent for 11,200 AI-enabled listings, enabling 12 lakh automated screenings and saving nearly four years of recruiter calling time. Companies like PayTM, Flipkart, Titan, Muthoot Fincorp, SBI Life, IDFC First Bank, and HCL led adoption, strongest in sales, customer support, software development, finance, and operations—particularly in non-metro cities.
Apna.co’s CEO described 2025 as a year of a more distributed, skilled, and aspirational workforce, with AI becoming practical infrastructure for faster, transparent hiring at scale.
