AI Impact on Indian IT Jobs in 2026: Future & Opportunities

What You Should Know About the Real AI Impact on Indian IT Jobs

Yes, AI is changing Indian IT jobs and yes, it is also killing many of them. The AI impact on Indian IT jobs conversation has been ongoing since ChatGPT began to spread across the internet in late 2022. Panic has spread faster than a virus ever could. Coding is going to be non-existent. The BPO industry is going to end. Your LinkedIn feed probably looks like a funeral for the IT industry.

The AI impact on Indian IT jobs reality is much more complicated and interesting than that.

There are over 5 million IT workers in India and this sector contributes approximately 7.5% of their GDP. TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL are all not featured businesses, they have and continue to undergo a shift, but these businesses are creating new opportunities if you know where to look.

CareerGrowKaro has spoken with thousands of fresher, mid-level and senior individuals across Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Noida in order to provide you with a true AI impact on Indian IT jobs profile. This guide will give you the real AI impact on Indian IT jobs view along with a real plan of attack to find your place in this rapidly changing environment.

Identifying Careers in Technology Under Threat

There are some careers slowing down and that’s just the way it is, AI has disrupted many careers in IT and this process seems to be continuing into the future. Understanding the AI impact on Indian IT jobs threat correctly helps you plan better.

As we can see below, there are several positions in IT that are experiencing big disruptions: 

1. Software Quality Assurance (manual software testers who conduct repetitive test cases). 

2. Data Entry and Data Processing positions in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) or IT Enabled Services (ITES). 

3. Junior Level Code Documentation positions. 

4. Standard Reporting positions that rely on templates. 

5. Level 1 Technical Help Desk Support positions (many of these are being eliminated by chat bots). 

This is interesting because most of the positions above were never really good career options to begin with. In the long run, a position that primarily consists of pressing the same button multiple times a day on a computer is probably not a good long-term choice for employment, and AI is just speeding that up.  This shift clearly reflects the growing AI impact on Indian IT jobs in repetitive roles.

The AI impact on Indian IT jobs threat is highest for many careers in IT where work is performed in a repetitive manner with very little judgment. Thus, if a job has many similar tasks that have very little or no thought process and can be separated into similar locations, these types of tasks will eventually be converted into Python scripts or AI workflows. This is where the AI impact on Indian IT jobs becomes most visible.

According to the data from Nasscom, approximately 70% of IT work can be partially automated over 5 years. “Partially automated” is a key term because it implies that certain aspects of the work won’t be done entirely by AI, but only partially. Understanding this nuance is essential when discussing the long-term AI impact on Indian IT jobs.

Career Options for IT Workers because of AI

There are two very exciting aspects of the AI impact on Indian IT Jobs story. The first aspect is the fact that there is a rapidly changing job market, with new jobs available every day, thanks to AI. 

The second aspect is that the number of jobs that will be available to workers in India will continue to grow because demand for workers will be greater than ever thanks to AI.

Booming job opportunities available today:

• AI / ML Engineers (Over 40% Year on Year Increase in Demand for AI Engineers) in India.
• Prompt Engineers (Yes, this is an actual position and demand for prompt engineers is high for companies).
• Data Scientists / Analysts who understand how AI works with data extraction tools.
• Cloud Architects (AI systems use cloud infrastructure).
• Product Managers for AI Products.
• Cybersecurity specialists (AI creates new forms of cyber attack).
• DevOps / MLOps Engineers Using AI Software Development Methodologies.
• Generative AI Developers.

The AI Impact on Indian IT Jobs has created a brand new layer to the IT Job Market in India. Think back to the introduction of mobile phones. The loss of thousands of jobs with the decline of companies like Nokia, was offset by hundreds of thousands of new jobs created within the Mobile App Development / Mobile UX / Mobile Marketing industries.

AI Jobs are an example of the same type of phenomenon.

Anyway, the overall impact of AI will continue to positively affect the Indian job market if you are willing to upskill. Willing to upskill is the key phrase.

An Overview Of What Indian IT Companies Are Working On

Let’s take some time to look at what the industry leaders are doing (and telling us), so we can better understand how the wind is blowing regarding the AI impact on Indian IT jobs.

• Infosys is investing heavily in their AI platform, Topaz, and are retraining thousands of employees internally with AI-related skills. Rather than fire employees who upskill into AI, they are promoting them.

• TCS has created an AI Cloud unit and has been publicly discussing the fact that AI will augment jobs instead of replacing them. They have conducted internal training programs on AI for over 300,000 employees.

• Wipro has invested $1 billion in AI over the last three years. Again, big companies investing this amount of money indicate they are expecting to see increased work with AI, not decreased work.

• HCL Technologies has added generative AI tools to their delivery model and is actively hiring AI engineers.

The reality of the employer side with respect to AI impact on Indian IT jobs is: we want employees who know how to work with AI; not employees who are afraid of AI.

Below is a quick comparison:

Role Type	2020 Demand	2026 Demand	Trend
Manual Quality Assurance Tester	Very High	Decreasing	Going Down
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Engineer	Low	Very High	Booming
Data Entry Business Process Outsourcing	High	Low	Disrupted
Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Architect	Medium	Very High	Booming
Prompt Engineer	Did Not Exist	Growing	New Category
Cyber Security	Medium	High	Growing with Artificial Intelligence
IT Helpdesk Level 1	High	Decreasing	Being Automated
Artificial Intelligence Product Manager	Rare	High Demand	Rapidly Emerging

How to Prepare For the Future of Your Career(General Guidance)

So, now that you’ve read the ‘scary’ side of the AI impact on Indian IT jobs, let’s get down to the basics. Everyone has the same choice, evolve or be left behind if you are a professional working in this area, as a technology has growing potential or shrinking.

Here are the following steps to take, whether you’re just starting your career out of university or if you are a mid-career professional with five years experience. 

Step 1: Inventory Your Job Responsibilities/Accountabilities 

Write out a list of the top ten things you do during a typical workday to keep track of your work responsibilities/accountabilities as they relate to your job. Then identify which work activities are creative and utilize reasoning skills along with those that are just simple ‘repetitive’ activities. If six or more of your tasks are repetitive, you may face higher automation risk due to the AI impact on Indian IT Jobs.

Step 2: Choose an Artificial Intelligence Tool and Become Competent in It

Choose one AI Tool to learn and become ‘competent’ in that AI Tool – some examples include:

• Development: GitHub Copilot
• Writing/Analysis/Documentation: ChatGPT or Claude
• Data Reporting: Tableau or Power BI with AI Capabilities
• CRM/Sales related IT: Salesforce Einstein

You need to dedicate 30 minutes per day (each day, for a total of 90 days). This consistent effort will help you stay competitive in a market evolving rapidly due to the AI impact on Indian IT jobs.

Step 3:  Learn the basics of Prompt Engineering

You do not need a degree to learn about prompt engineering; you need to understand how to give AI instructions. There are free courses available through Coursera, NPTEL and Google. As long as you can demonstrate the ability to connect human intentions with AI outputs, you will be in demand as the AI industries continue to create new jobs in this area.

Step 4: Get Qualified

AI and ML certifications are available from the big three cloud providers, Google Cloud, AWS and Microsoft Azure. Obtaining one, or more, of these certifications demonstrates to hiring managers that you are serious about pursuing an AI job and are required to meet the requirements of the technology landscape that has been created by the emergence of AI in rolling out due to the increasing use of cloud technology in many of the initiatives being completed in India today.

Step 5: Build Your Own AI Project.

Theoretical knowledge is easily forgotten. A project on GitHub with a working AI application virtually guarantees that project will never go away! In today’s competitive market shaped by the AI impact on Indian IT jobs, practical experience gives you a strong advantage. Build a small AI project such as a chatbot, text classifier or image classification tool and create a LinkedIn project. You will be amazed at how much exposure you receive from doing so!

AI Jobs in Google India and Top MNCs

Want to know about AI job positions at Google India? You are not alone!

Google India (located in Hyderabad/Bangalore) is actively hiring for:

• AI & NLP Research Scientists
• Machine Learning Engineers
• AI Policy (Regulation)
• Developer Relations (Gemini, Bard, etc.)
• Data Engineers supporting the AI Infrastructure

The average starting salary for AI job positions first time (mid-level) hires at Google India is 25-30 lakhs/year, and can go significantly higher for experienced hires. This clearly shows the strong AI impact on Indian IT jobs, especially in high-skill technical roles.

However, many other companies are also hiring for AI job positions beyond Google. The AI impact on Indian IT jobs is not limited to one company, it is spreading across the entire technology ecosystem. For example, HDFC Bank operates an AI lab. Flipkart employs many machine learning engineers. Reliance Jio is building some AI products. Hospitals like Apollo also utilize AI for diagnosis and other uses of their product lines.

Additionally, there will be growing demand for AI jobs throughout the IT industry. As AI becomes more integrated into finance, healthcare, retail, telecom, and manufacturing, the AI impact on Indian IT jobs continues to expand across all sectors — not just traditional software roles.

Impact of AI on Industries in India

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not only affect IT but all industries, including the following:

• Financial Services: Banks can save crores on things such as Fraud detection systems, customer service bots, and credit scoring. In addition, banks now must hire experts to design and maintain these systems, resulting in an increase in the overall number of jobs in the Fintech-AI industries.
• Healthcare: AI can help in diagnosing patients, organizing patient data, and providing drugs. Many companies (ex. SigTuple; Qure.ai) are developing Artificial Intelligence health tools designed for India.
• Manufacturing & Shipping: AI can assist in predicting repairs will be necessary for machines, optimizing supply chains and managing quality using computer vision. As we continue to push for Make in India, there will be a primary need for more Industrial AI jobs.
• Retail & E-commerce: AI can offer personalization engines, manage inventory, and offer accurate demand forecasting. There is an abundance of investments being made into AI Technologies at all of the major E-commerce platforms in India.
• Agriculture: Even Khet per AI has enhanced the accuracy of Crop monitoring and yield predictions with companies like CropIn building their products using Artificial Intelligence. This is one of the most under-reported impacts of AI in India.

While each of these sectors does operate separately, they share a distinct requirement, an individual who can grasp the overall domain and its correlation to the AI tools designed for use. The broader AI impact on Indian IT jobs shows that those who combine domain expertise with AI skills will command the highest salaries in the coming years.

FAQ’s

Summary

While the changes brought about by AI in the Indian IT sector are disruptive (they’ll eliminate many repetitive job roles), there are also new types of roles (higher-paying and more interesting). We need to develop a new plan for the future.

The AI impact on Indian IT jobs is real, widespread, and accelerating. All Indian IT professionals have consistently adapted to technological change; from mainframes to desktop computers to mobile devices and now cloud-based applications. AI will simply be another example of how IT professionals will again adapt.

To stay relevant in the face of the AI impact on Indian IT jobs, you don’t need to become an IIT researcher. You will need to develop ONE new skill that you can apply consistently for the next six months.

CareerGrowKaro was specifically designed to help you learn the right skill(s), make strategic career moves, and develop skills that will not be replaced by AI.