India leads global AI hiring growth at 59.5%, says LinkedIn report

India has recorded the fastest growth in artificial intelligence hiring globally, with AI engineering job postings rising 59.5 percent year-on-year, according to a report by LinkedIn.

The LinkedIn AI Labor Market Report 2026 said the surge is no longer limited to traditional technology hubs such as Bengaluru, with hiring expanding to other cities. Hyderabad saw a 51 percent increase in AI hiring, while Vijayawada recorded a 45.5 percent rise, reflecting a broader geographic spread.

The report attributed the growth to the rapid adoption of AI across industries. Large enterprises remain the biggest employers of AI talent, driven by investments in infrastructure, governance, and large-scale deployment. At the same time, small and mid-sized businesses are playing a growing role by bridging the gap between experimentation and enterprise adoption.

The demand for AI talent is also expanding across sectors. In manufacturing, AI engineering talent has grown fourfold, reaching 2 percent of the workforce in 2025, the report said.

Malai Lakshmanan said applied AI skills are seeing strong demand as they are closely tied to real-world use. He added that engineers who can move from experimentation to execution are likely to benefit the most.

Among the fastest-growing skills are AI agents, productivity tools, Azure AI Studio, intelligent agents, and automated feature engineering. The report noted that AI prompting and agent-based systems are becoming increasingly important in sectors such as manufacturing.

The findings point to a shift in India’s AI job market, with demand spreading beyond major urban centres and becoming more competitive as adoption deepens across industries.