Rewind 2025: India’s tech hiring turns inward, with fewer hires, sharper skills

India’s technology hiring market in 2025 settled into a phase of disciplined recalibration. After the post-pandemic surge and the slowdown that followed, companies returned to hiring with clearer intent—but tighter filters. Enterprises prioritised AI-led delivery, automation and specialised digital capabilities, pushing hiring towards fewer but more complex roles. As GCCs expanded their mandate and IT services firms tightened cost discipline, the hiring market shifted decisively toward skills depth, productivity and faster time-to-impact. 

Data from staffing firm Quess Corp shows IT hiring touching about 1.8 million roles during the year, up 16% from 2024 and nearly a third higher than 2022 levels. While demand concentrated around AI, cloud, cybersecurity and data roles, overall headcount growth remained constrained.

AI rewrites the hiring playbook

Artificial intelligence was the defining force in 2025’s hiring narrative. Demand surged for AI engineers, GenAI specialists, machine learning architects and AI product leaders as enterprises raced to embed intelligence across operations. The shortage of experienced talent pushed salaries sharply higher, particularly for candidates with real-world deployment experience rather than theoretical exposure.

As per various industry reports, cloud and DevOps roles remained resilient, driven by ongoing infrastructure modernisation and cloud-native adoption. Cloud architects, site reliability engineers and platform specialists stayed in demand, with pay varying widely by hyperscaler expertise and scale of projects handled. Cybersecurity hiring also accelerated amid rising cyber risks and tighter compliance norms, boosting prospects for security analysts, ethical hackers and cyber risk professionals.

Data and analytics roles continued to expand across sectors, cementing their position as core business functions rather than support roles. Importantly, this skills shift also fuelled leadership hiring, especially at GCCs, where companies sought senior executives to lead AI, digital engineering and global operations from India.

IT majors turn cautious, not cold

India’s top IT services firms remained measured in their hiring through 2025. Macro uncertainty, pricing pressure from clients and rapid AI-led automation pushed companies to focus on productivity, redeployment and reskilling rather than aggressive workforce expansion.

Tata Consultancy Services saw periods of net workforce reduction as it rationalised roles, though it continued campus hiring to protect its long-term talent pipeline. Digital, cloud, AI and data skills stayed in focus, even as demand for legacy technologies weakened.

Infosys appeared relatively more optimistic, maintaining steady hiring in digital, cloud and cybersecurity while stepping up fresher intake. The strategy signalled confidence in medium-term demand, particularly from AI-enabled transformation and GCC-led work.

Wipro’s hiring fluctuated quarter to quarter, closely tied to project visibility. Campus recruitment continued but at lower volumes, with a sharper tilt towards niche consulting, engineering and digital skills. HCLTech maintained stable headcount, investing in fresher onboarding, local talent hubs and emerging technology areas.

Across the board, fresher hiring remained a structural priority, but lateral hiring was tightly controlled. The message from India’s IT majors was consistent: scale mattered less than skill depth and adaptability.

Global slowdown, local opportunity

Globally, the picture was less upbeat. Indeed data from mid-2025 showed US tech job postings still below pre-pandemic levels, reflecting hiring freezes and caution amid economic uncertainty. But India continued to benefit from global rebalancing. Multinationals increasingly leaned on Indian teams for core engineering and R&D. At the same time, dynamic startups, including AI DevOps firm Harness, founded by AppDynamics creator Jyoti Bansal, are among the companies deepening India operations to build next-generation platforms that automate testing, security, deployment and cost optimisation. Such moves reinforced India’s position as a strategic innovation hub, not just a talent reservoir. Anil Ethanur, Co-founder, Xpheno - a specialist staffing firm, believes that while the Global AI sector is more focused on AI Engineering, the Indian sector focuses more on AI services.

What employers really wanted

Across industry reports, a few themes stood out. Employers prioritised demonstrable skills—especially in AI, cloud and cybersecurity—over pedigree. “Specialised technical expertise is no longer optional; it’s essential,” said Sachin Alug, CEO of NLB Services.

Remote and hybrid work broadened hiring beyond Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai, with Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities gaining traction as affordable, skilled talent pools, according to Zinnov-Nasscom’s 2025 GCC report. Companies also stepped up investments in internal upskilling to bridge fast-evolving skill gaps.

Despite growth, challenges persisted in pockets. Skill mismatches remained acute, with demand outpacing supply in emerging technologies. Smaller tech firms stayed cautious, and AI-led efficiency gains tempered overall hiring intensity. By late 2025, tech still accounted for over half of white-collar job openings in India, but sentiment softened at the margins.

The road to 2026

As 2025 draws to a close, the story is not about job counts but job quality. Hiring is moving steadily up the value curve. “The focus in 2026 will be deep technical skills, adaptability and roles tied directly to business outcomes,” said Puneet Arora, managing partner at Biz Staffing Comrade.

Kapil Joshi, CEO of IT Staffing at Quess Corp, summed it up, “Mid-career professionals drove much of this year’s hiring, especially in AI, cloud and cybersecurity. It shows India’s tech workforce is taking on more complex, high-value roles.”
For India’s tech workforce, the message going into 2026 is clear: hiring will continue—but only where skills translate quickly into business impact.