India’s festive season to generate over 2.16 lakh jobs in 2025, hiring demand up 15-20% from last year – says Adecco India

India’s festive season is set to generate over 2.16 lakh seasonal jobs, reflecting a 15–20% year-on-year rise in gig and temporary employment during H2 2025. Key sectors driving this surge include retail, e-commerce, BFSI, logistics, hospitality, travel, and FMCG. Hiring activity has gained momentum in anticipation of marquee events such as Raksha Bandhan, Big Billion Days, Prime Day Sale, Dussehra, Diwali, and the wedding season. Many companies are advancing their hiring cycles to stay ahead of demand and ensure operational readiness for what is expected to be a stronger-than-usual festive period. This year’s hiring uptick is being driven by improved consumer sentiment, a favourable monsoon boosting rural demand, post-election economic optimism, and aggressive seasonal promotions.

Metro cities such as Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune continue to lead in seasonal hiring demand—up 19% from last year. At the same time, Tier 2 cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Mysuru, and Varanasi are witnessing a 42% increase in demand. Notably, there’s growing traction in emerging hubs such as Kanpur, Kochi, and Vijayawada, indicating a broader geographic spread of festive hiring. Compensation levels are expected to rise by 12-15% in metro markets and by 18-22% in emerging cities. Encouragingly, 23% more women are participating in this seasonal hiring wave compared to previous years, driven by a rising preference for flexible, short-term roles.

Mr. Deepesh Gupta, Director and Head of General Staffing, Adecco India added, “This year’s festive season is seeing a sharper and more structured demand curve, and we have proactively prepared to meet it well in advance. Unlike previous years where hiring was largely volume-driven, employers today are equally focused on deployment speed, workforce readiness, and regional agility. To address these evolving needs, we began accelerating employee screening and workforce mapping across the top 20 markets early in the year. Our average turnaround time from application to deployment has now reduced to 17 days, enabled by digital screening processes and mobile-first on-boarding tools. We have already recorded a 19% increase in demand for seasonal roles compared to the same period last year and we are prepared to address if this grows in the coming quarters.”

Hiring in logistics and delivery is projected to rise by 30–35% as companies scale up last-mile operations in preparation for peak festive demand. In the BFSI sector, firms are significantly ramping up field force deployments for credit card sales and POS installations, particularly across Tier II and III cities. The demand is therefore expected to grow by 30%. The hospitality and travel segments are expected to see a 20-25% increase in hiring, while e-commerce and retail will continue to dominate, accounting for 35-40% of total seasonal job creation. Employers are increasingly prioritizing multilingual capabilities, customer-handling skills, and digital proficiency—especially for roles in in-store sales, credit card promotions, and delivery fulfilment.

While seasonal hiring have always had a short-term agenda, however, it is also a great opportunity to identify good talent. Beyond meeting short-term hiring peaks, Adecco believes that seasonal roles are increasingly becoming gateways to formal employment. Many employers in retail and fintech are now building structured career pathways for high-performing seasonal workers, underlining the strategic shift toward viewing short-term hiring as a long-term talent pipeline. Lastly, retention, traditionally a weak spot in seasonal hiring, is being actively addressed through improved compensation models. Structured incentives such as joining bonuses, attendance-based rewards, and completion bonuses are being introduced to enhance workforce stickiness and ensure continuity throughout the festive cycle.

Candidates being onboarded for festive roles are typically aged between 18 and 30 years, with qualifications ranging from high school to undergraduate degrees. A large portion of this workforce includes first-time jobseekers or those with prior gig experience. There is a growing preference for candidates who are multilingual, digitally fluent, and comfortable with frontline customer engagement — especially for roles in credit sales, delivery fulfilment, and store interactions.

“What’s also evident is a growing trend of festive roles acting as formal entry points for youth and gig workers,” added Mr. Gupta. “With deployment timelines compressed and retention rates improving steadily, seasonal hiring is no longer a stop-gap but a strategic workforce layer, particularly across digital commerce, retail, and financial services. The focus now is not just on scale, but on structured mobilisation, candidate experience, client delight, and long-term workforce integration. Aligned to this, at Adecco India, we are prepared to deploy 8,000–10,000 seasonal hires between July and December 2025, with a significant share of this demand emerging from Tier II and III cities.”

Retention, historically a challenge in seasonal employment, is being actively addressed through structured incentive models. Joining bonuses, attendance-linked rewards, and cycle-completion payouts are being deployed across client accounts to improve stickiness. These interventions have contributed to a 20–25% year-on-year improvement in retention. Adecco also notes that nearly one in four candidates hired for festive roles in previous years transitioned into longer-term assignments — a trend that continues this year. With many employers offering career pathways to high-performing workers, festive hiring is now emerging as a formalised entry point into India’s organised workforce.

About Adecco India

Adecco India, an ultimate subsidiary of the Adecco Group AG, is a premier HR solutions provider in India and offers customised services to employers while extending flexible opportunities to job seekers. With expertise in temporary staffing, professional staffing, permanent recruitment, outsourcing services, career transition, customised training, and consulting, among other services. Adecco connects the right talents with rewarding opportunities while also helping businesses optimise their workforce solutions. The organisation is committed to diversity and inclusion, and views these values not only as integral to the business model but also as a societal responsibility. Currently, the Adecco India team comprises over 900 employees across multiple offices nationwide, serving over ~40,000 associates placed with their business clients in India.