New Delhi: Hiring for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) roles grew 20 per cent year-on-year in September even as overall white-collar hiring remained largely steady, pointing to a continued shift in demand towards specialised skills and experienced professionals, according to the Naukri JobSpeak report.

The Naukri JobSpeak Index rose 2 per cent year-on-year to 3,053 in September from 3,002 a year ago. AI/ML hiring remained one of the strongest areas of growth, while hiring in several traditional sectors weakened during the month.

Hitesh Oberoi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Info Edge (India) Ltd, said the September numbers showed that the hiring market remained steady but was becoming more selective.

Read more: AI agents can now improvise when blocked. Autonomous systems finding ways around digital barriers on their own may be their biggest cybersecurity risk yet

"While overall hiring was broadly stable, demand continued to move towards specialised skills, particularly AI, and more experienced professionals," Oberoi said. He added that differences across sectors and cities showed hiring was increasingly being driven by specific business and capability needs.

The report showed that demand for AI/ML talent remained strong even as overall IT and software services hiring declined 4 per cent year-on-year. Within AI/ML, hiring for professionals with 13-16 years of experience rose 54 per cent, while demand for those with 8-12 years of experience increased 28 per cent. Fresher hiring in AI/ML grew 19 per cent.

Read more: OpenAI sacks 3 researchers over leaking 'sensitive' info, ChatGPT maker alerts over 100 organizations about rogue AI agent activity

The broader hiring trend also favoured experienced professionals. Hiring for those with 8-12 years of experience grew 5 per cent, while the 13-16 years and 16-plus years categories increased 7 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively. Fresher hiring grew just 1 per cent, while the 4-7 years category declined 2 per cent.

Among sectors, Auto hiring grew 11 per cent, while BPO/ITES and Global Capability Centre (GCC) hiring increased 4 per cent each. Hospitality/Travel and Education saw sharper declines of 11 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.

GCC hiring was led by Hyderabad, where it grew 23 per cent year-on-year, followed by Chennai at 13 per cent and Pune at 11 per cent, the report said.

The September trends suggest that hiring growth ahead could remain concentrated in specialised skills and experienced talent, rather than being broad-based across sectors and experience levels.