AI hiring surges 16% in India as overall IT recruitment drops, signaling major industry shift
3 Sources
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AI hiring outpaces overall IT recruitment in India, report shows
BENGALURU, July 3 - Hiring for AI roles within India's IT sector outpaced overall recruitment within the industry last month, a survey showed on Friday, indicating a push from companies to reorient themselves in the face of evolving technology. The sector's AI hiring rose 16% year-on-year in June, while overall IT jobs declined 3%, according to job portal Naukri's monthly JobSpeak report that collated job listings from more than 150,000 firms on its website. India's $315 billion IT industry has been under pressure with clients holding back on spending on technology due to a weak macroeconomic environment and the advent of AI that threatens their traditional business model. "The divergence (between AI and overall IT hiring) is important because it shows where tech companies are still investing. AI is increasingly becoming a core capability area, especially as demand shifts towards more senior and specialised talent," said Hitesh Oberoi, CEO at Info Edge (INED.NS), opens new tab, which owns Naukri. The country's No.1 software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS), opens new tab, last month said it expects IT companies to slow down hiring, with the Tata Group firm moving towards having an equal number of employees and AI agents in its workforce. Last July, the firm cut more than 12,000 jobs, while headcount fell by more than 23,000 on a net basis in the fiscal year ended March 2026. Across 14 sectors, AI and machine learning jobs increased 25%, the report added. The insurance and consumer goods sector showed the most increase in job hiring during the period, it said. Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru; Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
[2]
AI hiring outpaces overall IT recruitment in India: report
India's IT sector is prioritising artificial intelligence (AI) hiring, with AI roles seeing a 16% year-on-year surge in June, contrasting with an overall 3% decline in IT jobs. India's $315 billion IT industry has been under pressure with clients holding back on spending on technology due to a weak macroeconomic environment and the advent of AI that threatens their traditional business model. Hiring for AI roles within India's IT sector outpaced overall recruitment within the industry last month, a survey showed on Friday, indicating a push from companies to reorient themselves in the face of evolving technology. The sector's AI hiring rose 16% year-on-year in June, while overall IT jobs declined 3%, according to job portal Naukri's monthly JobSpeak report that collated job listings from more than 150,000 firms on its website. India's $315 billion IT industry has been under pressure with clients holding back on spending on technology due to a weak macroeconomic environment and the advent of AI that threatens their traditional business model. "The divergence (between AI and overall IT hiring) is important because it shows where tech companies are still investing. AI is increasingly becoming a core capability area, especially as demand shifts towards more senior and specialised talent," said Hitesh Oberoi, CEO at Info Edge, which owns Naukri. The country's top software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services , last month said it expects IT companies to slow down hiring, with the Tata Group firm moving towards having an equal number of employees and AI agents in its workforce. Last July, the firm cut more than 12,000 jobs, while headcount fell by more than 23,000 on a net basis in the fiscal year ended March 2026. Across 14 sectors, AI and machine learning jobs increased 25%, the report added. The insurance and consumer goods sector showed the most increase in job hiring during the period, it said.
[3]
AI hiring outpaces overall IT recruitment in India, report shows
BENGALURU, July 3 - Hiring for AI roles within India's IT sector outpaced overall recruitment within the industry last month, a survey showed on Friday, indicating a push from companies to reorient themselves in the face of evolving technology. The sector's AI hiring rose 16% year-on-year in June, while overall IT jobs declined 3%, according to job portal Naukri's monthly JobSpeak report that collated job listings from more than 150,000 firms on its website. India's $315 billion IT industry has been under pressure with clients holding back on spending on technology due to a weak macroeconomic environment and the advent of AI that threatens their traditional business model. "The divergence (between AI and overall IT hiring) is important because it shows where tech companies are still investing. AI is increasingly becoming a core capability area, especially as demand shifts towards more senior and specialised talent," said Hitesh Oberoi, CEO at Info Edge, which owns Naukri. The country's No.1 software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, last month said it expects IT companies to slow down hiring, with the Tata Group firm moving towards having an equal number of employees and AI agents in its workforce. Last July, the firm cut more than 12,000 jobs, while headcount fell by more than 23,000 on a net basis in the fiscal year ended March 2026. Across 14 sectors, AI and machine learning jobs increased 25%, the report added. The insurance and consumer goods sector showed the most increase in job hiring during the period, it said. (Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru;)
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India's IT sector is witnessing a dramatic shift as AI hiring rose 16% year-on-year in June while overall IT jobs declined 3%. The divergence, revealed in Naukri's JobSpeak report analyzing 150,000 firms, shows tech companies prioritizing AI capabilities amid economic pressures. TCS plans equal numbers of employees and AI agents, having cut over 23,000 jobs in fiscal 2026.
AI Hiring in India Defies Broader IT Sector Decline
India's $315 billion IT industry is experiencing a fundamental transformation as AI hiring surges while traditional tech recruitment contracts. According to the Naukri JobSpeak report released in July, AI jobs in India grew 16% year-on-year in June, even as overall IT recruitment declined 3% during the same period
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. The monthly report, which collated job listings from more than 150,000 firms on the Naukri platform, reveals where tech companies are placing their strategic bets amid mounting economic pressures2
.This divergence matters because it signals a deliberate reorientation within India's technology sector. Companies are not simply reducing headcount—they're actively reshaping their workforce strategies around artificial intelligence capabilities. The shift comes as clients hold back on spending due to a weak macroeconomic environment, forcing IT services firms to adapt or risk obsolescence
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.IT Sector Hiring Trends Point to Specialized Talent Demand
"The divergence (between AI and overall IT hiring) is important because it shows where tech companies are still investing," said Hitesh Oberoi, CEO at Info Edge, which owns Naukri. "AI is increasingly becoming a core capability area, especially as demand shifts towards more senior and specialised talent"
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. This observation underscores how AI's disruptive impact on IT services is forcing companies to prioritize depth over breadth in their hiring strategies.The data extends beyond just the IT sector. Across 14 sectors analyzed in the report, AI and machine learning jobs increased 25% overall
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. The insurance sector and consumer goods sector showed particularly strong increases in job hiring during the period, suggesting that AI adoption is accelerating across traditional industries as well3
.Tata Consultancy Services Signals Radical Workforce Transformation
The country's top software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, recently outlined an ambitious vision that illustrates how far this transformation might go. TCS expects IT companies to slow down hiring significantly, with the Tata Group firm moving towards having an equal number of employees and AI agents in its workforce
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. This statement represents more than speculation—it's a concrete forecast from India's largest IT services provider about how tech hiring will evolve.The numbers behind TCS's transformation are stark. Last July, the firm cut more than 12,000 jobs, while headcount fell by more than 23,000 on a net basis in the fiscal year ended March 2026
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. These reductions aren't simply cost-cutting measures—they reflect a strategic pivot toward deploying AI agents alongside human workers.Related Stories
What This Means for India's Technology Workforce
The short-term implications are clear: professionals with AI and machine learning expertise face strong demand, while those in traditional IT roles may need to reskill. Companies are investing in AI capabilities even as they reduce overall headcount, creating a two-tier job market within the technology sector. The 16% growth in AI hiring in India contrasts sharply with the 3% decline in broader IT recruitment, suggesting that workers who can demonstrate AI expertise will command premium opportunities
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.Longer-term, the advent of AI threatens the traditional business model that has sustained India's IT industry for decades. As clients face economic pressures and discover AI-powered alternatives, the labor arbitrage model that built the $315 billion sector faces fundamental challenges. The shift toward senior and specialized talent suggests that volume-based staffing strategies may give way to expertise-driven models. Watchers should monitor whether this 16% AI hiring growth rate sustains, how quickly other sectors beyond insurance and consumer goods accelerate their AI recruitment, and whether traditional IT roles stabilize or continue declining in the coming quarters.
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