India's Tech Job Openings Hit 18-Month High, but Entry-Level Roles Stay Scarce
India's technology sector recorded its highest number of active job openings in 18 months in October 2026 — 1.23 lakh vacancies — but only around 15,000 positions are entry-level, leaving fresh graduates largely on the margins of the rebound.
India's technology job market reached an 18-month peak in October 2026, with approximately 1.23 lakh active openings, according to staffing firm Xpheno's Active Tech Jobs Outlook as reported by India Today. The figure is up 17 per cent year on year and 5 per cent compared with September. IT services firms are leading the recovery with around 66,000 openings — up 57 per cent year on year — driven by demand for AI engineering, analyst and technical leadership roles. Global Capability Centres add roughly 18,000 more, up 64 per cent on the year. Despite the strong headline, entry-level positions account for only about 15,000 of the total — around 12 per cent — and fell 6 per cent from September. Mid-senior roles dominate at roughly 68,000 openings, or 55 per cent of the total. Bengaluru leads geographically with around 31,000 openings, followed by Hyderabad with approximately 14,000; tier-2 and tier-3 cities together account for a further 40,000 vacancies, up 67 per cent year on year. About 81 per cent of roles are work-from-office. Separately, a global tally published on 24 October 2026 puts total technology-sector layoffs in the first ten months of 2026 at around 1.3 lakh, led by UPS and Oracle at 30,000 each. Analysts note the two trends can coexist: global firms cutting in some functions while Indian IT services firms and capability centres open new roles in AI, data and cloud — exactly where domestic demand is growing.
