India's technology and software services industry is experiencing unprecedented workforce restructuring, with 35,000 jobs projected to be eliminated during the current calendar year as companies prioritise productivity improvements in an intensely competitive environment. According to TeamLease, between 10,000 and 15,000 technology professionals have already lost their jobs through silent layoffs by May, with projections of 25,000-35,000 total job losses for the full year. CIEL HR Services estimates that 12,000 jobs have been eliminated so far in 2026, expecting total layoffs to reach 18,000-21,000. If realised, cumulative job losses across 2025 and 2026 could rise to as much as 43,000. The current cycle differs from earlier downturns as job reductions are driven less by slowing demand and more by productivity gains from artificial intelligence, widening skill gaps and efforts to simplify organisational structures.
Indian IT services companies are bracing for a challenging start to FY27, with analysts expecting flat to negative sequential revenue growth in constant currency terms during the June quarter. According to latest reports, HDFC Securities expects first-quarter growth for tier-I firms to range between -1.3% and 1.1%, while Kotak Institutional Equities estimates growth of between -1% and 1% for the largest IT companies. The slowdown is attributed to macroeconomic uncertainty, weaker discretionary spending, delays in large deal decisions and growing AI-related pressures. TCS will announce its first-quarter results on July 9, followed by HCLTech on July 13, Wipro on July 16 and Infosys on July 23. ICICI Securities expects TCS to post 0.3% sequential constant currency revenue growth, while Infosys is expected to report 0.9% organic sequential constant currency growth.
India's largest IT recruiters are delaying onboarding and, in some cases, withdrawing offers made to engineering graduates, reflecting cautious hiring amid an uncertain business environment. According to reports from Mint, at least four global technology firms—including Accenture Plc, TCS, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. and Oracle Corp.—have either delayed onboarding selected freshers or withdrawn job offers and cancelled roles over the past month. This development adds to concerns over slowing entry-level technology jobs for the country's 1.3 million engineering graduates vying for positions at world's largest technology firms. TCS has delayed onboarding for selected freshers, with the company's onboarding team citing current business requirements and project demands as determining factors. Cognizant has also delayed onboarding for some freshers under its GenC programme, with graduates receiving letters of intent in November 2025 still awaiting offer letters.
Both companies have announced significant workforce restructuring initiatives as part of the broader industry transformation. TCS completed the exit of about 12,000 employees by March 2026, while Cognizant is reducing its workforce by at least 4,000 employees. According to TeamLease, the combined net reduction of 7,389 employees across the five largest Indian IT companies—TCS, Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro and Tech Mahindra—in FY26 reversed the net addition of 12,718 employees recorded in FY25. TCS reduced its workforce by 23,460 employees during the year, while Infosys added about 5,000 people. Accenture and Oracle ended their respective fiscal years with $69.7 billion and $67.4 billion in revenue, up 7% and 17% year-on-year respectively. ICICI Securities expects TCS to report EBIT margin decline by 150 basis points due to annual wage hike, AI investments and higher sales and marketing spending.
The ongoing workforce restructuring reflects a fundamental shift in how technology companies approach talent management in the AI era. According to TeamLease Digital, hiring demand is increasingly being concentrated in specialised areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, platform engineering and engineering roles within GCCs, while functions that are routine and highly susceptible to automation continue to face mounting pressure. CIEL HR's Aditya Narayan Mishra noted that the current trend should be viewed as workforce realignment rather than broad-based decline, with companies continuing to recruit for critical, future-ready roles. Former Accenture Managing Director Satish Viswanathan emphasised that the AI era is breaking the old workforce equation in IT and consulting, moving companies away from strategies centred on "labour scale" towards those built around "cognitive leverage." TCS Chairman N Chandrasekaran recently stated that the company will no longer hire at the scale it did in the past as AI agents begin taking over parts of human work.
