Employment growth across India's listed companies slowed in FY26, with financial services recording a sharper deceleration, according to Jefferies' analysis of annual reports from around 2,200 companies. Overall employment growth eased to 1.8% in FY26 from 2.7% in FY25, while growth in financial services fell to 1.7% from 2.7%.
The findings offer a snapshot of how workforce expansion is evolving across corporate India. Average employee cost growth remained at 6.8% in FY26, indicating that the pace of growth in employee expenses was higher than the reported rate of employment growth.
Hiring Trends
Financial services recorded a one-percentage-point decline in employment growth between FY25 and FY26, matching the deceleration in the broader sample of listed companies. The figures point to slower workforce expansion, rather than necessarily indicating that companies were cutting jobs.
The analysis covers around 2,200 listed companies and draws on their annual reports. The figures provide a broad view of formal corporate employment, although they do not by themselves establish which companies added the most workers or which reduced their headcount.
Employee costs offer another measure of workforce trends. Average employee cost growth stood at 6.8% year on year in FY26, according to the report. However, the aggregate figure does not show how pay increases varied across sectors or employee levels.
FY27 Outlook
Higher revenue growth in FY27 could support hiring, according to the report. The outlook will depend on whether stronger business growth translates into additional workforce requirements.
The report also points to the potential for hiring and consumption to improve, although a weak monsoon and the fading impact of GST-related benefits could weigh on consumption.
A sector-by-sector assessment of employment growth would be needed to establish which industries are expanding their workforces fastest and where hiring is losing momentum. The figures available from the report identify financial services as one sector where employment growth slowed, but do not establish a ranking of India's biggest hirers.
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