Temporary hiring in India is expected to grow by 15-20 per cent during the 2026 festive season as companies across retail, e-commerce, quick commerce, logistics, FMCG and consumer durables increase recruitment to meet rising demand, according to TeamLease Services’ Festive Season Workforce Report 2026.
However, hiring is shifting from large-scale volume recruitment towards specialised frontline roles as companies prepare for a longer festive calendar, faster fulfilment expectations and increasingly omnichannel customer journeys.
The report analyses anonymised employment records of 60,000 frontline associates deployed during the festive season across consumer durables, organised retail, e-commerce, quick commerce, logistics and FMCG.
Companies are also increasing their focus on incentives, digital onboarding and workforce readiness to improve execution during the festive period.
The report estimates that frontline salaries could increase by 8-10 per cent in the second half of 2026. However, employees’ effective take-home pay is expected to rise by 5-8 per cent, partly due to changes arising from labour laws.
The frontline workforce is also becoming younger, with the median age falling to 26.7 years in the second half of 2025 from 28.2 years a year earlier.
The gender composition remained broadly unchanged, with men accounting for around 85 per cent of the workforce and women around 15 per cent.
South and West India are expected to see the strongest hiring momentum, with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad emerging as key hiring markets.
Tier I metros are projected to account for 40.5 per cent of the frontline workforce in 2026, up from 38.2 per cent in 2025 and 33.1 per cent in 2024.
Tier II cities are expected to account for 26.5 per cent of the workforce, while tier III markets will contribute 33 per cent.
The growing concentration of frontline workers in metros is being driven largely by the expansion of e-commerce and quick-commerce networks, particularly dark stores and hyperlocal fulfilment infrastructure.
At the same time, tier II and tier III markets continue to see workforce growth as retail and logistics networks expand across smaller cities.
Warehouse pickers, packers and dark-store personnel are expected to remain the largest hiring categories during the festive season. They will be followed by in-store promoters and specialists, retail associates, cashiers and store operations executives.
Demand is also increasing for specialised operational roles such as inventory and fulfilment coordinators, warehouse- automation operators and returns management executives.
The shift reflects the increasing complexity of India’s retail supply chains, with companies looking beyond additional headcount and focusing on specific skills required to manage inventory, fulfilment, automation and customer experience during an extended festive period.