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Naukri.com is the oldest and largest online recruitment platform in India, operated by Info Edge (India) Limited from Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Sanjeev Bikhchandani founded it in 1995, making it older than most of the international job platforms it now competes with; Info Edge has been listed on the BSE and NSE for years and trades under the ticker NAUKRI. The product has two distinct sides. For job seekers it is free: you build a profile and resume, search openings by role, location, salary and experience, set job alerts, and apply directly. Naukri's own help pages state plainly that registering is free of cost. The money comes from the other side — recruiters and staffing firms pay to post jobs and, more importantly, to search Resdex, Naukri's resume database. That B2B resume-search product, not consumer subscriptions, is the company's core revenue driver, and it is the main reason Naukri retains an edge over LinkedIn for Indian hiring: the sheer depth of Indian candidate resumes in one searchable place. Naukri also sells optional paid services to job seekers under the Naukri FastForward brand — profile-visibility boosts, recruiter 'Resume Display' spotlights, and professional resume writing, sold in three- and six-month terms. These are the source of most serious complaints about the platform. Naukri does not publish FastForward prices on a page reachable without logging in, so treat any figure you see quoted on third-party blogs with caution and check the price shown in your own account. A note on reliability worth knowing: in late February and early March 2024, Google removed Naukri, Naukri Recruiter, Naukrigulf, 99acres and Shiksha from the Play Store during a dispute over Play billing policy. Info Edge confirmed the takedown in a stock-exchange filing and said it had been given little notice. The apps were restored within days after the Indian government intervened. The episode is over, but it is a real illustration of how much an Indian app depends on a foreign app store. Naukri suits almost any Indian job seeker as a first stop, particularly for mid-level white-collar and IT roles where its listing volume is unmatched. It is a weaker fit if you want company reviews and salary transparency (Glassdoor does that better), international roles, or professional content and networking (LinkedIn's territory). Blue-collar and entry-level seekers may find Apna a better match for vernacular, locality-based hiring.
Info Edge (India) Ltd
4.6/5 on Google Play Store, India (2,008,574 ratings, verified 2026-08-21) · Last verified 2026-08-21
Yes. Creating an account, building a profile, searching jobs, setting alerts and applying are all free — Naukri's own help content states that registering on Naukri.com is free of cost. The company earns its money from recruiters, who pay to post jobs and to search the Resdex resume database. Naukri does separately sell optional paid services to job seekers under the Naukri FastForward brand, but you never have to buy them to apply for a job.
FastForward is Naukri's paid job-seeker product: profile-visibility boosts, 'Resume Display' recruiter spotlights, and professional resume-writing services, usually sold in three- or six-month terms. It is the single biggest source of complaints about the platform — reviewers on PissedConsumer and Trustpilot repeatedly describe buying it after sales calls and then receiving no measurable increase in recruiter contact. Naukri does not publish FastForward prices on a page you can reach without logging in, so check the price inside your own account rather than trusting a figure from a third-party blog. Treat it as optional, and be sceptical of any guarantee about job outcomes.
Yes. Naukri.com is owned and operated by Info Edge (India) Limited, incorporated in India in 1995 and headquartered at Sector 132, Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It was founded by Sanjeev Bikhchandani, who remains involved, and is run day to day by CEO Hitesh Oberoi. Info Edge is publicly listed on the BSE and NSE under the ticker NAUKRI. As with any listed Indian company, a meaningful share of the register is held by foreign institutional investors, so 'Indian' here means Indian-founded, Indian-incorporated and Indian-headquartered rather than exclusively Indian-owned capital.
In late February and early March 2024, Google removed Naukri, Naukri Recruiter, Naukrigulf, 99acres and Shiksha from the Play Store during a dispute over compliance with Play's billing policy. Info Edge confirmed the removal in a stock-exchange filing and said it had received little notice. The apps were reinstated within days after the Indian government made clear that delisting major Indian apps was unacceptable. The apps have been available normally since.
Naukri never requires you to pay to apply for a job or to secure an interview — the company publishes its own FAQ making exactly this point, because its brand is heavily abused by fraudsters. Treat any caller who asks for a payment to 'schedule an interview', 'unlock' recruiter access or guarantee placement as a scam regardless of what they claim to represent. Genuine paid Naukri services are purchased inside your logged-in account, never by transferring money to an individual. If in doubt, ignore the call and check your account directly.
For volume of Indian openings, especially mid-level white-collar and IT roles, Naukri is stronger: Indian recruiters search its Resdex resume database as a matter of routine, so a complete Naukri profile puts you in front of them passively. LinkedIn is stronger for professional networking, industry content, referrals, senior and international roles, and for being found by global companies. They are not really substitutes — most Indian job seekers keep an up-to-date profile on both and use Naukri for applying at scale and LinkedIn for relationships and research.
Naukri.com is a powerful Indian alternative to these international apps:
Yes, Naukri.com by Info Edge (India) Ltd is an Indian alternative to LinkedIn. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to LinkedIn →
Yes, Naukri.com by Info Edge (India) Ltd is an Indian alternative to Indeed. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Indeed →
Yes, Naukri.com by Info Edge (India) Ltd is an Indian alternative to Monster. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Monster →
Yes, Naukri.com by Info Edge (India) Ltd is an Indian alternative to Glassdoor. It offers similar functionality while being developed and maintained in India.Explore other Indian alternatives to Glassdoor →
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