Mint Explainer: Are India’s IT giants actually ready for AI?
On Tuesday, information technology industry body Nasscom projected a flat pace of growth for India’s tech services sector in the coming fiscal years. The previous day, brokerage firm Jefferies reduced its target prices of India’s Big Four IT firms.
All of this adds to growing concerns around how the sector is preparing to navigate the onslaught of artificial intelligence.But are these fears justified? How ready are India’s IT firms for AI, really? Mint explains.Nasscom’s annual strategic review for FY26 said India’s tech services firms are set to report 6% annualized revenue growth. While this would be the fastest growth in three years, Nasscom said the impact of AI is real, and the pace of growth could remain flat for tech outsourcers over the next two to three years at least.Fresher hiring by IT services firms, one of India’s largest mass recruiters, is also projected to remain flat as automation changes the face of tech-related jobs in India.
This could deliver mixed fortunes for IT services in the near term.The day Nasscom published its review, C Vijayakumar, chief executive of HCL Technologies, said AI would lead to a “painful transition” because of its impact on people and jobs.The chairpersons of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and HCLTech, however, have refuted such claims. N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, said AI could be a big opportunity for knowledge workers, while Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani told investors on 17 February that AI’s impact was overblown.
Roshni Nadar-Malhotra, chairperson of HCLTech, echoed these views, saying the sector had “seen such transitions many times before”.Since 1 January, IT stocks have been in free fall. As of 16 February, the sector had lost nearly $45
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