Synopsis

The push for formal employment, strongly supported by the staffing industry, has been instrumental in bringing more workers into structured flexi roles, thereby boosting reported employment figures and aligning with the industry’s commitment to providing formal opportunities, especially for first-time job seekers and freshers, the report said.

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Flexi-staffing industry (Image for representation)

Bengaluru: India’s flexi-staffing industry has registered a 8% growth in new employment in the last financial year, the Indian Staffing Federation revealed in the findings of its Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2025-26.

The report highlighted that the total formal flexi workforce represented by ISF members stands at 1.91 million. Despite a cautious market sentiment in 2025 and early 2026 due to geopolitical turbulence across the world, the industry added 1.18 lakh new formal flexi workers over the last 12 months.

“Despite global macroeconomic headwinds slowing worldwide expansion, India’s staffing ecosystem has remarkably decoupled to remain a primary engine for formal job creation. Our steady 8% year-over-year growth demonstrates the structural maturity of our talent supply chains, which now act as vital economic stabilisers,” said Manmeet Singh, President, Indian Staffing Federation in a statement. “By absorbing market volatility, our industry actively anchors the infrastructure necessary to propel India toward its USD 5 trillion milestone.”

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The push for formal employment, strongly supported by the staffing industry, has been instrumental in bringing more workers into structured flexi roles, thereby boosting reported employment figures and aligning with the industry’s commitment to providing formal opportunities, especially for first-time job seekers and freshers, the report said.

IT staffing industry has also witnessed growth in FY26.

Farhan Azmi, Vice President, Indian Staffing Federation, said: “The IT staffing industry's stabilisation is a reality, marked by a robust 10.1% year-over-year surge anchored heavily by GCCs commanding 73% of new mandates. While broader economic uncertainties compressed sequential quarterly momentum to 0.2%, underlying fundamentals remain strong with sustained project ramp-ups across retail, logistics, and manufacturing. The industry has weathered the slowdown and is actively scaling the technical elite powering India's digital future.”

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The fourth quarter of FY26 saw a cautious market stabilisation. Many organizations aimed to reorganise hiring to utilise better productivity, leading to a late-year slowing demand for temporary workforce across traditional IT services. The overall staffing industry witnessed a QoQ growth of +0.9% in net flexi employment during this period, marking a sequential recovery after the seasonal Q3 plateau. General Staffing specifically observed a +0.9% QoQ growth, while IT Staffing had a QoQ growth of 0.2% in Q4 26. Additionally, the festive Q3 surge coupled with Q4 stabilisation in e-commerce, quick-commerce and 3PL warehousing sustained demand into the post-festive quarter, showing a structural shift.