In what comes across as a good augury for IT professionals in India, there has been a gradual increase in recruitments by the major players, especially for specialisations in the IT services industry. The demand is particularly more for specialised skills in AI and data science, which will be the driving force into the future given their versatile resourcefulness and multitude of applications. This steady increase may not be a match to the good old days, but what cannot be denied is that there are sufficient indications that a route towards that is being laid, resurgence, so to say. There has been an increase, though at a modest pace, in new hiring, particularly from the middle of 2024. The demand for those skilled in cloud computing, data engineering, and software development is to such high levels that expectations are that it could result in an up to a 20 per cent increase in hiring this year.

Incidentally, these are not projections put forth by industry watchers and domain experts but are concrete facts that emerge from the remarkable showing by India’s top three IT services companies, TCS, Infosys and Wipro, which collectively added 13,503 employees in FY25 as compared to a decline of 64,000 (mostly layoffs) in FY24. Of course, in terms of percentage, they may not be as high as one would have expected, but what matters is that there has been an encouraging increase in the 2025 headcount. Many are attributing this to the global macroeconomic uncertainty, which is an off-shoot of the reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US, coupled with AI-led automation. For the records, TCS, Infosys and Wipro added 1,438 employees in the March quarter of FY25. Taken under any yardstick, this marks an encouraging development. Amid the suspended animation the Indian IT industry finds itself in, these marginal strides can be morale-boosters to those waiting for a call from a potential employer, who is likely to hire professionals skilled in AI and data science and boast of considerable experience.

On that count, the recovery phase of big firms is a welcome relief from the lows in 2024, which was made worse by a spate of layoffs across specialisations much to the dismay of qualified and experienced professionals. Although, layoffs would be in vogue even this year, the rate could be quite marginal. Many companies are still taking precautionary measures in the name of ‘cost-cutting’ and the ‘rise of AI’. That remains the big challenge for IT firms, including those in tier-2 cities, which have been registering a semblance of recovery. Reading the pulse appropriately, many industry experts opine that IT firms would be cautious in their headcount addition and would take a call only based on the prevailing demand. Sachin Alug, CEO of NLB Services, is bang on with his contention, “Despite ongoing global uncertainties, FY25 has marked a recovery phase for major Indian IT firms, following the historic headcount decline of FY24.” Upskilling will be vital for many workers as the world is now driven by AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. It is not surprising that the original Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru, continues to be the top talent hotspot with Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR being way behind. The good news is that IT professionals can keep alive their hopes of securing a job matching their skills, sooner than later.