Meta, Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix ramp up India hiring; 32,000 jobs added in 2025

Big Tech firms are accelerating hiring and investment in India as tighter H-1B visa rules reshape global talent strategies. In 2025, FAAMNG companies added over 32,000 jobs, driven by demand for AI, data, cloud, and cybersecurity skills. With multibillion-dollar investments and selective hiring, India is emerging as a long-term global tech hub.

As tighter H-1B visa regulations begin to reshape global hiring strategies, America’s largest technology companies are increasingly turning to India to meet their talent needs. By the end of 2025, industry heavyweights—Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google—had together added more than 32,000 employees in the country, underscoring India’s growing role in their long-term workforce plans.

According to data compiled by specialist staffing firm Xpheno and accessed by Moneycontrol, this hiring surge represents an 18 percent increase over the previous year. With these additions, the combined India-based workforce of these companies has climbed to around 214,000. The trend reflects an accelerating demand for specialised technology skills, particularly as artificial intelligence becomes central to product development and operations.

Xpheno co-founder Kamal Karanth noted that the cohort’s net headcount expansion in 2025 marked its strongest performance in the past three years, highlighting a renewed momentum after a period of cautious hiring.

Skills Over Scale: Where the Jobs Are

Despite the sizable workforce growth, hiring has remained highly selective. Data from Xpheno and TeamLease Digital shows that current open positions across the FAAMNG group range between 3,000 and 5,000 roles. Rather than broad-based recruitment, companies are prioritising niche expertise.

Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, explained that recruitment in 2025 was sharply focused on advanced digital capabilities. Demand rose significantly—by nearly 25 to 30 percent—for professionals in AI and machine learning operations, data engineering and analytics, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and governance-related functions. Traditional or generalist roles, by contrast, saw limited expansion.

This shift signals a strategic pivot toward innovation-led growth. Sharma pointed out that companies are concentrating on high-impact skills that support emerging technologies, moving away from legacy support roles that once formed the backbone of large tech teams.

Karanth added that while artificial intelligence is influencing hiring decisions, its full effect has yet to materialise. For now, companies are recruiting for complementary skill sets that strengthen AI ecosystems rather than for AI roles alone. The more visible structural changes in hiring, he said, are likely to emerge over the next two to three years.

Why India Is Gaining Ground

Several factors are driving this acceleration in India-based hiring. Throughout 2025, global tech leaders such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon ramped up investments in AI infrastructure and local teams. At the same time, newer AI-focused companies—including Perplexity AI and OpenAI—have identified India as a key consumer market, prompting them to establish offices and data centres in the country.

This enthusiasm has coincided with significant changes to the US H-1B visa framework, a crucial pathway through which American firms have historically recruited overseas talent. Traditionally, Indian professionals have accounted for roughly 70 to 75 percent of these visas. However, in 2025, the Donald Trump administration introduced a $100,000 fee on new applications and rolled out a revised lottery system that favours higher-wage, highly skilled candidates.

Karanth observed that while some of the hiring momentum stems from pent-up demand, policy uncertainty has also played a role. Potential service tariffs, rising costs tied to visa revisions, and the possible impact of the proposed HIRE Act have prompted companies to reassess their global talent strategies. As a result, many are accelerating hiring in India, where the balance of skill availability and cost efficiency remains attractive.

Billions in Commitments Signal Long-Term Intent

The scale of investment flowing into India further reinforces this shift. In the final quarter of 2025 alone, Google announced a 17.5 billion toward strengthening India’s cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling initiatives, and sovereign digital capabilities.

Amazon has outlined an even more ambitious roadmap, committing $35 billion over the next five years across its Indian operations—from quick commerce to cloud services—with a target of creating an additional one million jobs by 2030.

Beyond capital investments, tech giants have been expanding their physical footprint. OpenAI revealed plans in August 2025 to open its first India office in New Delhi. Microsoft leased over 265,000 square feet of office space in Hyderabad, while Apple signed a decade-long lease for office floors in Bengaluru valued at more than ₹1,010 crore. Meta announced a new Bengaluru office earlier in the year, and Google unveiled its expansive Ananta campus in the city, now among its largest globally.

What 2026 Could Look Like

Looking ahead, industry observers expect the effects of H-1B restrictions to further influence hiring patterns in 2026. While there may be some moderation once policies around talent mobility and cross-border services become clearer, local hiring in India is likely to remain resilient.

Karanth suggested that a renegotiated visa regime could eventually revive overseas hiring and talent movement. Even so, offshore locations such as India would continue to offer a competitive edge in terms of cost efficiency. He added that engaging Indian talent remains economical, even after accounting for a potential 25 percent cess under the proposed HIRE Act.

TeamLease Digital projects that while conventional IT hiring may grow only in low single digits—largely to replace attrition—Big Tech hiring in India could still expand by 16 to 20 percent in 2026. However, Sharma emphasised that this growth will be tightly focused on capabilities, particularly in AI, data platforms, cloud infrastructure, and security.

More than visa policy alone, she noted, companies are rethinking delivery models—reducing reliance on onsite roles and strengthening India-based ownership of global products and platforms.

Despite global layoffs and productivity gains driven by AI, the underlying trend is clear: India is set to remain a critical hub for Big Tech talent. Even as hiring becomes more selective, the country’s role in shaping the next phase of technological innovation continues to deepen.