Majority of MEI employers plan to hire in FY27: Report

With 70 per cent of manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure MEI employers planning workforce expansion, the segment ranks among the top three industries by hiring intent in the first half of 2026-27, a report said on Tuesday.

With 70 per cent of manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure (MEI) employers planning workforce expansion, the segment ranks among the top three industries by hiring intent in the first half of 2026-27, a report said on Tuesday. The TeamLease Employment Outlook Report (EOR) is based on insights of 1,268 employers across 23 industries and 20 cities, between November 2025 and January 2026. India's MEI sector has recorded a Net Employment Change (NEC) of 6.6 per cent for HY1 FY27, strengthening from 5.5 per cent in the previous half-year, according to the TeamLease Employment Outlook Report (EOR). This acceleration is being driven by a clear build-up in industrial investment cycles and policy-led momentum across the MEI ecosystem. The National Manufacturing Mission's integrated push across clean-tech manufacturing, semiconductor ecosystem development, and PLI frameworks is supporting structured talent creation across the value chain. Semiconductor investments across Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka are expected to generate approximately 1 million jobs across fabrication, ATMP, chip design, and supply-chain functions by 2026-28. In parallel, Industry 4.0 adoption is reshaping demand toward higher-value, digitally enabled roles across plant operations and engineering design. ''Manufacturing, Engineering and Infrastructure are no longer in a recovery phase. MEI Sector Records 6.6 per cent net employment growth as 70 per cent of firms plan expansion in HY1 FY27. The over 6.6 per cent NEC reflects sustained investment pipelines across semiconductors, clean energy and advanced manufacturing. ''What is evolving is the nature of workforce deployment, which is becoming more digital, more specialised and increasingly positioned at the intersection of engineering and technology,'' TeamLease Services Senior Vice President Balasubramanian A said. Organisations building capability in these areas today are likely to secure a structural advantage as industrial capex cycles mature, he added. The report further revealed that as industrial execution deepens, functional hiring within MEI continues to reflect strong alignment with capital deployment cycles.