Companies are hiring AI-related positions at the same time the wider jobs in the industry are falling. The shift is clear from new survey data seen in this week that shows how AI is changing the way workers work and the strategy is changing the way the IT sector deals with IT workers in India.
According to the latest Job Speak report by job portal Naukri, which tracks all listings from more than 150,000 companies, AI-focused job opportunities in the IT sector grew 16 percent year-on-year in June. In contrast, total hiring in the sector fell by 3 percent. This widening gap indicates that, while firms pull back on general recruitment, they are indeed investing in the development of AI capabilities.
The backdrop to this shift is a challenging time for India’s $315 billion IT industry. Global client companies have been cautious with technology budgeting and investment as the economy grows weak. At the same time, the rapid growth of AI tools has raised fundamental questions about the outsourcing and services-oriented business model that has powered India’s IT industry for decades.
In his report, Hitesh Oberoi, CEO of Info Edge, the parent company that owns Naukri, said the difference between AI hiring and the overall recruitment trends is a sign of corporate priorities. Artificial intelligence has turned into a core capability that companies want to build internally and demand is increasingly aimed at senior professionals and specialist hiring as opposed to junior-level hires, he said.
This re-evaluation is evident in the work of Tata Consultancy Services, India’s biggest software exporter. The company said last month that it expected hiring in the IT industry to slow down in the coming months. More importantly, TCS has set out a longer-term vision of the company with about equal numbers of human and AI-powered employees a sign of how serious big IT players are on automation and AI as a means of efficiency. The company’s own jobs numbers show that change is already taking place. The company cut more than 12,000 jobs in July and its total headcount fell by upwards of 23,000 employees net in the fiscal year ending in March 2026, the report said.
The AI hiring surge is not limited to the IT industry. Data from the same report shows that job postings related to artificial intelligence and machine learning increased by 25% in 14 different sectors of the broader economy during this time frame. The insurance and consumer goods industries had the highest hiring activity in this span, which indicates the pace of AI adoption is well beyond the tech industry’s traditional boundaries.
Looking at the numbers as a whole, it is clear that we have an industry in transition and companies are slashing traditional roles while at the same time looking for talent to help them navigate and profit from the AI-driven future.
