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India's smaller (Tier-2 and Tier-3) cities are driving a hiring boom, especially in the IT sector, where recruitment surged by 53% year-on-year in June 2025, nearly twice the national average, according to the latest foundit Insights Tracker. And the momentum isn't limited to the tech sector. In June, hiring for fresher positions also saw an 11% jump, according to Naukri, driven by non-IT sectors such as hospitality, oil and gas, and real estate. Overall, white-collar hiring in Tier 2 cities is now outpacing that in metro markets.
Global HR Tech Product from Guwahati
Another standout example is Vantage Circle, an HR tech SaaS firm bootstrapped and built out of Guwahati. Initially launched as a deals and discounts site, the company now offers a full suite of employee engagement tools, including rewards, recognition, wellness, and surveys. It serves large clients such as Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant, Tata Motors, and recently signed TCS North America. "We started with deals and discounts… but then we moved to VantageCircle.com to become a little bit more…wider in the offering…we wanted to explore other products in the employee engagement space," says co-founder and CTO Anjan Pathak.
The company's flagship product, Vantage Recognition, integrates with gift card providers globally, enabling employees to redeem recognition points on platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Best Buy, and others. "Our main USP now is that we have integrated our platform with gift card companies from all over the world…in India, you can redeem against Amazon or Flipkart…in the U.S., gift cards like Best Buy, Amazon and others."
Together, the company calls it the "Vantage Rewards" platform. "Now we have renamed that to Vantage Recognition…that platform has two components, recognition and appreciation. One is basically with monetary value, the other is without."
Vantage's tech capabilities are strong enough to power Engage2Excel, a US-based HR firm that white-labels its platform. "We have even widely built our technology to another… HR information company in the US, which is Engage2Excel. They are selling it to their clients." On how AI is embedded, Pathak explains: "We call it applied AI. For example, if you want to recognise someone...we embed that function inside our product using ChatGPT's APIs. That's what we have done."
To Read More: Fortune India