On one side India’s tech startup ecosystem is witnessing early signs of a slowdown on the other hand it is experiencing steady recovery.
In the meantime the companies are cautiously expanding their hiring capacity following a prolonged funding winter.
Indian Startups Looking To Hire Thousands Of Employees
The total headcount for funded startups closed at 590,000 in FY25 and is projected to rise to 670,000 in FY26, according to the data from Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm.
Market analysts are not expecting these hiring trends to shift dramatically but there is a discernible upward bias.
For instance, financial year 25 witnessed a net addition of 60,000, and projections for FY26 suggest a further increase of 80,000.
We can say that in the past five years, the overall tech startup cohort has grown steadily with the closing headcount rising from 250,000 in FY21 to 590,000 in FY25.
Further representing a gross hiring of 710,000 over this period.
The analysts are anticipating that this growth in FY26 would come from different sectors including quick commerce, e-retail, marketplaces, fintech (including payments, remittances, lending, and credit), and F&B retail.
Preference For Leaner Teams
The co-founder of Xpheno, Anil Ethanur noted, “The projected net headcount increase this fiscal is driven by these high-growth verticals.”
In the meantime, 69 percent of employers in the ecommerce and tech startup sectors plan to expand their workforce during the first half of FY26 (April-September) as revealed in the TeamLease Services’ Employment Outlook Report while supporting this outlook.
It appears that this hiring momentum is fuelled by advances in AI-driven product development, growth marketing, and cloud-native engineering.
According to CEO-Staffing at TeamLease Services, Kartik Narayan, “Despite a cautious macro environment, there is a clear shift in how India’s tech startups are approaching growth and talent.”
Further adding, “The focus has shifted from aggressive expansion to building sustainable, value-driven business models.”
This change also indicates that the companies are now preferring to form leaner teams with sharper, outcome-oriented skill sets, especially in product and digital roles.
Narayan added, “It’s not just about filling positions; it’s about building capabilities.The resurgence in hiring signals startups’ growing confidence not just in funding cycles, but in the long-term promise of India’s digital economy.”
Moreover, the hiring demand is strongest for high-impact technology and product roles, particularly DevOps engineers, product managers, and full-stack developers as mentioned in the TeamLease report.
