Metro cities such as Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune will be hiring the maximum people (19 per cent more than last year) during the festive season this year. Adecco India’s report says that at least 2.16 lakh seasonal jobs will be created across retail, e-commerce, logistics, BFSI, hospitality, travel, and FMCG in the second half of 2025.
A 15 to 20 per cent rise in festive hiring demand over last year is projected this festive season, with tier 2 and 3 cities showing a 42 per cent surge in recruitment, hiring. The number of women applying for jobs will go up by 23 per cent, and workforce retention will also see 20–25 per cent improvement. That means, short-term festive / seasonal roles are more likely to grow into long-term / formal ones.
With festivals such as Raksha Bandhan, Big Billion Days, Prime Day Sale, Dussehra, Diwali, and the wedding season around the corner, many firms are advancing their hiring cycles in preparation for the surge in demand that is expected. The festive hiring surge is expected to spread to Kanpur, Kochi, and Vijayawada too. Compensation levels are expected to rise by 12-15 per cent in metro markets and by 18-22 per cent in emerging cities.
According to Deepesh Gupta, director and head of general staffing, Adecco India, “Unlike previous years where hiring was largely volume-driven, employers today are equally focused on deployment speed, workforce readiness and regional agility.”
There is expected to be a 30 to 35 per cent rise in hiring in logistics and delivery with companies scaling 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, especially across tier-II and III cities. The demand is, therefore, expected to grow by 30 per cent.
The hiring surge is expected to be 20 to 25 per cent in the hospitality and travel segments, while e-commerce and retail will continue to dominate, accounting for 35-40 per cent of the total seasonal jobs created.
More and more employers are seeking talent with multilingual capabilities, customer-handling skills, and digital proficiency—especially for roles pertaining to in-store sales, credit-card promotions and delivery fulfilment.
Employers in retail and fintech are now creating structured career pathways for high-performing seasonal workers, and in the process building a long-term talent pipeline. The improved compensation models are also ensuring retention. Structured incentives such as joining bonuses, attendance-based rewards, and completion bonuses are being introduced to retain talent. Not surprisingly, there has been a 20–25 per cent year-on-year improvement in retention. As per the report, nearly one in four candidates hired for festive roles in previous years have transitioned into longer-term roles, and the trend is spilling over to this year too.
