Indian tech hiring rises 10%, but entry-level IT jobs shrink

Technology hiring in India grew 10 per cent year-on-year, yet entry-level IT roles are declining sharply, a report from job site foundit said on Thursday. The IT industry's share of fresher hiring fell from 32 per cent to 24 per cent, with one in four entry-level IT jobs disappearing over the past year. AI-led roles now account for 4 per cent of entry-level hiring, up from about 1 per cent a year ago, as employers recruit talent to operate and optimise AI systems rather than build models.

A separate Nomura report confirms the K-shaped split in India's labour market: AI has created 131,000 jobs in Asia against 61,000 lost, but the new roles are in technology, data annotation and linguistics, while routine back-office and junior coding jobs are most vulnerable. Nomura notes that companies are adjusting to AI through 'silent firing', reduced campus recruitment and slower hiring, rather than mass layoffs. In India, net IT sector hiring fell from around 600,000 in FY22 to 140,000 in FY26, according to staffing firm Xpheno.

The foundit report shows the 7-10-year experience band was the only cohort to grow, up 11 per cent year-on-year, while fresher hiring overall declined 10 per cent annually. STEM graduates still account for 42 per cent of fresher hiring. Nomura warns that the impact on labour markets could change considerably as AI evolves from task automation towards agentic systems.