Quick Take (30-Second Read)
- Revenue: Rs 44 Cr in FY25 — down 52.7% from Rs 92 Cr in FY24; down 61% from Rs 113 Cr peak in FY23
- Net Loss: Rs 8.8 Cr in FY25 — narrowed 62% from Rs 23.3 Cr in FY24 (cost-cuts, not revenue recovery)
- Pivot: June 2023 — from TikTok-style short video to paid private live-streaming (1-on-1 video calls, virtual diamonds)
- Unit Economics: Rs 1.2 spent to earn Re 1 of operating revenue — still loss-making at unit level
- Cash: Rs 2.2 Cr cash and bank balance as of March 2025 — critically thin runway
- Signal: 72% of revenue from international users — domestic market has largely abandoned the platform
India’s white-collar job market recorded its strongest February performance in recent years as the Naukri JobSpeak Index climbed to 3,233 points — a 12% year-on-year rise from 2,890 in February 2025 — driven by AI/ML talent demand and a meaningful recovery in IT sector hiring, according to the Naukri JobSpeak monthly report released on March 3, 2026.
The month-on-month jump from January to February came in at 23% — noticeably above the 13–16% range typically seen between the two months — signalling that the seasonal uptick this year is amplified by structural demand for AI talent and the IT sector’s recovery from a prolonged hiring slowdown. For founders and HR leaders, the data marks a clear inflection: India’s talent market is tightening, particularly at the top end.
For India’s startup ecosystem, the hiring report delivers a two-sided message. The good: India’s labour market entering FY27 is healthy, which means startups can recruit from a growing talent pool entering the market. The watch-out: AI/ML roles are growing 49% YoY while base hiring grows 12% — meaning the premium for AI-capable talent is widening rapidly. Startups not budgeting for AI talent inflation in FY27 will face compensation surprises.
StartupFeed Insight
What the numbers actually say: Chingari’s losses are shrinking — but that is the wrong metric to watch. The correct metric is revenue trajectory. A company going from Rs 113 Cr → Rs 92 Cr → Rs 44 Cr in three years is not stabilising; it is in structural decline.
The real alarm: The loss narrowing is purely a function of cost containment: total expenditure fell 55% to Rs 52.4 Cr. When cost-cuts outpace revenue falls, the P&L looks better — but the business is smaller and the unit economics (Rs 1.2 to earn Re 1) haven’t improved.
What it means for startups:
If you’re a hiring startup: The Rs 20 LPA+ band grew 23%, which means mid-to-senior talent is in high demand from both corporates and startups. Budget for 15–20% compensation growth for AI/ML profiles in FY27 compared to FY26 offers.
If you’re a founder building AI products: Indian MNC enterprise is actively buying AI capability — internal build and external vendor relationships both. FY27 B2B sales cycles for AI SaaS startups targeting Indian enterprises will be shorter than in prior years.
If you’re an HR tech or talent-platform startup: A 17% freshers hiring surge combined with AI/ML role growth at 49% creates a large addressable market for skill-bridging platforms. The gap between what freshers know and what employers need is the whitespace.
Our prediction:
Naukri JobSpeak will hit 3,400+ by April 2026 (Q1 FY27 hiring surge) as companies execute FY27 hiring plans. AI/ML role growth will sustain above 40% YoY through FY27. Compensation for AI/ML roles in the Rs 15–25 LPA band will grow 20–25% in FY27, creating real cost pressure for early-stage startups competing with MNCs for the same profiles.
February 2026 Hiring Metrics at a Glance
| Metric | February 2026 | February 2025 | Change | Signal |
| Naukri JobSpeak Index | 3,233 points | 2,890 points | +12% YoY | Strongest February in recent years |
| MoM Growth (Jan→Feb) | +23% | +13–16% (typical range) | Above seasonal norm | AI and IT demand amplifying seasonal uptick |
| Overall White-Collar Hiring | +12% YoY | Base | — | Broad-based recovery, not isolated to tech |
| IT Sector Hiring | +6% YoY | — | — | First meaningful IT recovery since funding winter |
| IT Freshers Hiring | +8% YoY | — | — | Entry-level IT pipeline resuming after 2-year gap |
| India-Based MNC IT Hiring | +55% | — | — | Domestic IT majors leading the IT recovery surge |
| AI/ML Roles — IT Sector | +40% YoY | — | — | High-skill demand concentrated in AI/ML within IT |
| AI/ML Roles — All Sectors | +49% YoY | — | — | AI is the fastest-growing role category in India |
| Indian MNCs AI/ML Hiring | +82% | — | — | Indian enterprises building AI at 2x MNC pace |
| Foreign MNCs AI/ML Hiring | +43% | — | — | Global firms also growing AI talent in India |
| Indian MNCs — Total Hiring | +24% | — | — | Indian enterprises outpacing foreign firms overall |
| Freshers Hiring — Overall | +17% YoY | — | — | Entry-level demand expanding; reflects confidence |
| Rs 20 LPA+ Band Demand | +23% | — | — | Premium talent demand growing faster than average |
Sector-by-Sector Hiring Breakdown
IT Sector — Recovery Signal
After two years of hiring slowdowns driven by client spending caution and macro uncertainty, India’s IT sector posted +6% YoY growth in hiring in February 2026 — the clearest recovery signal since the post-pandemic normalisation. India-based MNC IT companies were the primary engine, recording a 55% hiring surge — significantly ahead of foreign counterparts. Within IT, AI/ML roles led the surge at +40% YoY, reinforcing that the IT sector’s recovery is concentrated at the highest-skill end of the talent market, not in volume commodity hiring.
Freshers hiring in IT grew 8% — a meaningful reversal after 18+ months of campus recruitment freezes at major IT firms. This signals that IT majors are building a new cohort of entry-level talent, likely to be trained on AI tools from day one of their careers.
AI/ML — The Structural Driver
| AI/ML Hiring Category | YoY Growth | Implication |
| All Sectors — AI/ML Roles | +49% | AI/ML is now the fastest-growing job category in India’s white-collar market |
| IT Sector — AI/ML Roles | +40% | IT sector AI/ML hiring growing faster than overall IT hiring — quality over volume |
| Indian MNCs — AI/ML Hiring | +82% | Domestic enterprises investing in AI capabilities at nearly double the pace of global peers |
| Foreign MNCs — AI/ML Hiring | +43% | Global companies also growing India AI talent base — but Indian firms moving faster |
The 82% vs 43% divergence between Indian and foreign MNCs on AI/ML hiring is the most strategically significant data point in the report. It means Infosys, TCS, HCL, Wipro, and second-tier Indian IT companies are deliberately building AI capabilities at an accelerated pace — likely driven by the dual pressure of client demand and competitive threat from AI-native platforms. For AI startups selling to Indian enterprise, this signals a ready and motivated buyer.
Non-IT Sectors — Who Is Hiring
| Sector | Hiring Growth (YoY) | Why It’s Hiring |
| Insurance | +28% | Digitalisation of insurance distribution, IRDAI product deregulation, embedded insurance growth — all driving hiring in tech, sales, and actuarial roles |
| BPO / ITES | +22% | AI augmentation is creating new BPO roles in prompt engineering, AI quality review, and human-in-the-loop validation — not replacing jobs at the pace feared |
| Real Estate | +19% | PropTech adoption, luxury residential market boom, and office space recovery post-hybrid stabilisation driving hiring across sales and operations |
| Hospitality / Travel | +15% | Post-pandemic revenge travel entering structural normalisation; hospitality chains expanding capacity and hiring; event industry recovering |
| Retail | +14% | Quick commerce expansion (Blinkit, Zepto, Myntra M-Now) driving supply chain, operations, and category management hiring at scale |
The breadth of non-IT hiring growth is important context: India’s white-collar recovery is not an IT story alone. Insurance, BPO, real estate, and retail represent millions of jobs, and their collective growth above 14% signals that the broader economy is hiring with confidence ahead of FY27.
What Naukri Says
“IT hiring is recovering meaningfully, and Indian MNCs are investing in AI talent at a healthy pace. The underlying momentum heading into the new fiscal year looks genuinely solid.”
— Pawan Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Naukri.com (March 3, 2026)
Goyal’s qualifier — “genuinely solid” — is deliberate understatement from a platform that processes millions of job postings. Naukri’s CBO does not typically use superlatives. The phrase “heading into the new fiscal year” is equally significant: Indian companies typically ramp hiring in Q1 FY27 (April–June), meaning February’s 12% YoY number is the pre-ramp baseline, not the peak. If the seasonal pattern holds, March and April 2026 should deliver higher index readings.
What This Means for Indian Startups
| Startup Type | Implication | Recommended Action |
| AI/ML-first product startups | POSITIVE: Indian enterprises buying AI capabilities at +82% pace creates larger TAM for B2B AI SaaS. Enterprise sales cycles shortening as decision-makers prioritise AI budgets. | Target Indian MNC enterprise as primary Q1 FY27 go-to-market. Align product roadmap to upskilling and AI augmentation use cases. |
| IT services or tech-enabled services startups | POSITIVE: IT sector recovery means client budgets are opening. 6% growth today likely reaches 10%+ by Q2 FY27 as FY27 IT spend commitments land. | Accelerate enterprise client conversations. Position AI capabilities as differentiator from legacy IT vendors. |
| HR tech / talent platforms / edtech for professionals | STRONGLY POSITIVE: 17% freshers surge + AI/ML role gap = largest market opportunity for skill-bridging platforms since 2020–21. | Build AI/ML upskilling curricula now. Partner with campus recruiters for freshers pipelines. Price premium certifications for Rs 20 LPA+ band targeting. |
| D2C / consumer brands hiring for scale | MODERATE: Retail (+14%) and real estate (+19%) hiring creating mid-market ops talent availability. AI/ML-adjacent roles remain expensive. | Plan FY27 hiring early. AI/ML and growth marketing profiles will be priced up 15–20% vs FY26. Lock in comp bands in Q4 FY26. |
| Early-stage startups (Seed/Series A) | WATCH-OUT: Indian MNCs at +24% hiring are competing for the same talent pool as early-stage startups. Comp expectations rising. | Differentiate on ESOPs, mission, and growth trajectory — not cash comp. Target talent transitioning from corporate to startup, not vice versa. |
About the Naukri JobSpeak Index
The Naukri JobSpeak Index is a monthly index published by Info Edge (India) — parent company of Naukri.com — tracking trends in India’s white-collar job market based on new job postings and recruiter searches on Naukri.com’s resume database. It covers hiring activity across sectors, geographies, experience bands, and salary levels, making it the most comprehensive leading indicator of India’s formal white-collar employment market. The index is tracked month-over-month and year-over-year, and a reading of 3,233 in February 2026 represents the highest February index value recorded in recent history.
What’s Next: March and Q1 FY27 Outlook
February’s 12% growth and 23% MoM acceleration set up a strong Q1 FY27 hiring cycle. Three factors to watch in March–April 2026:
FY27 hiring plans activate: Indian companies execute annual hiring headcounts in April–June. Q1 FY27 is typically the highest-volume hiring period. With February already at a multi-year high, Q1 FY27 could set a new peak for the JobSpeak Index.
AI/ML compensation inflation: As demand grows +49% but supply of AI/ML professionals remains constrained, salaries in the Rs 15–30 LPA band will see 15–25% YoY growth. Startups budgeting at FY26 rates will face offer rejections.
Campus hiring resumes: IT freshers hiring up 8% in February signals that campus recruitment season is active. Expect major IT firms and AI-native startups to compete aggressively for the 2026 graduating cohort, particularly in IITs and NITs.
