Mumbai: India is likely to create 2-2.5 lakh seasonal and gig jobs during July-December period of 2026, with festive hiring expected to grow 15-20 per cent, according to a report by global technology and digital talent solutions provider NLB Services.

As the country enters the festive season, businesses across e-commerce, quick commerce, retail, logistics, hospitality, travel and consumer services are preparing for one of the year's most concentrated periods of demand, said the report.

"The festive season is becoming a real-time stress test for India's workforce with employers hiring earlier, looking beyond traditional talent hubs and increasingly relying on technology-enabled, flexible and ready-to-deploy talent.

"What was once a short-term response to seasonal demand is becoming a strategic opportunity to access new talent pools, assess capabilities at scale and create pathways to longer-term employment. The real impact of festive hiring, therefore, may extend well beyond the season itself," NLB Services SVP and APAC Head Varun Sachdeva said.

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The report is based on the overall industry trends, employer sentiment and actual festive job postings to estimate how many seasonal and gig jobs could be created.

As per the report, employers begin workforce planning nearly 12-14 weeks ahead of the festive peak, allowing them to build talent pools earlier and reduce the pressure of compressed hiring cycles.

As demand becomes increasingly concentrated into shorter windows, workforce readiness is emerging as a competitive advantage.

The report said last-mile delivery, warehousing and fulfilment, retail sales, customer experience, inventory management, field operations and hospitality will continue to account for a significant share of seasonal requirements.

There would be 15-20 per cent growth in new-age operational roles. These include dark-store inventory controllers, returns and refunds specialists, customer-resolution executives, marketplace operations professionals, fraud and transaction-support personnel, catalogue management executives and order-management specialists.

Even roles traditionally considered operational are becoming increasingly dependent on digital platforms, data, automation and real-time decision-making.

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Festive hiring is also becoming more geographically distributed as tier II and III cities are expected to contribute around 45 per cent of total festive hiring demand, with hiring in these markets projected to grow 25-30 per cent.

The expansion of e-commerce, quick commerce, organised retail and regional fulfilment networks is driving demand across cities such as Jaipur, Lucknow, Indore, Surat, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, and Kochi.

The festive workforce is also becoming more inclusive and geographically diverse, the report revealed.

Freshers, first-time workers and women are emerging as an increasingly important talent pool, supported by flexible shifts, proximity-based jobs and structured temporary employment.

In several categories, women from non-metro locations are expected to account for 30-35 per cent of new female hires, signalling that festive demand is opening up more employment opportunities beyond traditional urban talent pools.