GST collections jumped 22.9% in October. Half of the jump came from imports.
Gross GST hit ₹2.31 lakh crore in October 2026, up 22.9%. Imports were 27% of GST a year ago but supplied half of the growth.
CapitalVia Research Desk ·
Data story · 4 Nov 2026
KPMG 2026 India CEO Outlook
92% of India's CEOs plan to hire more. 52% also plan to cut roles.
Both answers come from the same 125 CEOs, running companies with over $500 million in revenue. Hiring and cutting are no longer opposites. They are the same plan.
Expect to increase headcount
92%
of CEOs in India, over the next three years
Global: 89%
Planning workforce reductions
52%
of the same CEOs, in some areas of the business
A year ago: 50%
Read together: the headcount grows, but not the same jobs. Roles are being added in some places and removed in others, inside the same company.
Scroll
What changed in one year
Share of India CEOs who say they are doing each of these in response to AI
Aug 2026Aug 2025The cut
Retaining and retraining high-potential talent
Redesigning roles, career paths and teams for human-AI work
Hiring new talent with AI and technology skills
Planning workforce reductions in some areas
Bars are the share of the 125 India CEOs surveyed. Three of the four strategies jumped 17 to 22 points in a year. The cut barely moved. It was already there.
Where it lands on you
Entry level
86%
of India CEOs are reassessing the skills required for entry-level roles. Globally it is 76%. The first job is being redefined fastest here.
Mid career
54%
name attracting and retaining talent as their top workforce challenge, ahead of skills gaps (53%) and AI upskilling (51%).
The budget
62%
expect to put 11 to 20% of their budgets into AI over the next 12 months. That money comes from somewhere.
So what
"We are hiring" and "we are restructuring" are now the same sentence. For a salaried employee, the question is not whether the company grows, but whether your role sits in the part being added or the part being redesigned. For founders and leaders, the companies ahead of you are rewriting roles first and hiring second.
More from Insights
All storiesBanks lent 19.5% more to industry this year. A year ago, that growth was 7.7%.
Bank loans to industry grew 19.5% this year, against 7.7% a year ago. Services credit grew 28.3% and personal loans 17.3%.
Gold loans grew 83% in a year. Credit card dues grew 3.6%.
Bank gold loans hit ₹5.59 lakh crore, up 83.2% in a year, while credit card dues grew just 3.6%. Gold loans are now 1.87× card dues.