Tech Hiring Slowdown: IT Sector to Witness 24% Drop in New Job Openings in September

Indian IT sector and overall tech sector job openings are projected to decline as much as 24% in September this year compared to the same period last year. The dip in tech job openings as companies hire fewer freshers, part-time techies, and IT project managers, data from specialist staffing firm Xpheno showed. 

“Overall, the tech sector is witnessing a downward trajectory in active talent demand volume. The volume of active openings in the sector has turned sluggish over the last 3 months,” said the staffing firm in its report. 

Where Are the Tech Jobs? 

The tech jobs outlook for the month of September showed that the Indian tech companies are expected to open 102,000 jobs, marking a 24% dip from September 2024 and a 1% decline from August 2025. Most of the openings are estimated to be at the mid-senior level, with around 55,000 jobs. At entry-level, job openings are projected to be around 15,000.

While IT services are projected to offer the highest number of openings with 43,000 jobs in September, it is still estimated to be 24% lower compared to the same period last year. Similarly, the software products segment in the tech sector is set to offer 22,000 jobs openings, which is the second-highest category, but it is still 20% lower compared to September 2024. 

The funded tech startup is the segment that is projected to witness a 6% increase in September 2025, compared to the same month a year ago, with 16,000 job additions. Apart from funded tech startups, tech in GCCs, and the big four/ big ten are set to add 1% and 2% jobs in September this year, compared to the same month in the previous year, respectively. 

This has come around a time when new workforce additions in India’s tech sector have consistently declined. According to the publicly available NASSCOM data, in the financial year 2021, the sector added 445,000 jobs. In the following fiscal year, the new job openings dropped to 300,000. In FY23, hiring declined significantly with just 60,000 job additions. The sector added 126,000 jobs in the financial year 2024. Meanwhile, the total IT sector workforce has increased marginally from 5 million in FY21 to 5.8 in FY25. 

The job additions across different sub-sectors of the tech industry have declined from 174,000 in August 2022 to a projected 102,000 in September 2025, the staffing firm's data revealed. 

“The active talent demand trajectory in the tech sector is set on another downward slide since mid of 2025,” Xpheno said in its latest report. “The demand volume is fast approaching its lowest point in three years, and there aren’t any immediate or clear signs of a turnaround,” the staffing firm added. 

The dip in job additions has come around a time when Indian tech companies are increasing investments in artificial intelligence and are reassessing traditional jobs in the sector. Recently, India’s largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services, revealed its plan to cut about 2%, around 12,000, of its global workforce in the present financial year. The Tata Group’s IT services arm said the move aims to make it more adaptable in an era of AI-driven business transformation.