The country's largest IT companies are embracing AI at a faster pace than ever. They say software is being written quicker, projects are moving faster and engineers are becoming more productive.
That has fuelled a question hanging over India's $280 billion IT industry: if AI can do more work, shouldn't companies need fewer people?
The latest earnings season, however, paints a more nuanced picture. While some firms have trimmed headcount and others are squeezing more output from employees, none of the country's largest IT services companies described AI as the trigger for sweeping workforce cuts. Instead, executives spent more time discussing new skills, productivity gains and changing roles.
The message marks a shift from the popular narrative that generative AI would quickly replace large numbers of software engineers. TCS, Wipro, HCLTech and Tech Mahindra all acknowledged AI is reshaping how software is built. But their management teams largely portrayed AI as a force changing the nature of work rather than eliminating it altogether.
ALSO READ: Wipro Sees Companies Running Into An Unexpected AI Problem. And It's Not Jobs Or Data Storage
Different Workforce
TCS offered the clearest rejection of the idea that AI would sharply shrink white-collar employment.
Responding to an analyst's question on why the company was giving salary hikes and continuing to hire despite growing fears over AI replacing software developers, Chief Executive Officer K. Krithivasan said TCS did not believe there would be a "drastic reduction" in white-collar jobs.
"We don't agree with the view that overall white-collar employment will go down," he said, adding that software engineers would increasingly move into roles such as prompt engineering, model training, model testing and AI lifecycle management. He said the company also wanted to have more top talent available to deploy quickly when client demand improved.
That stance was backed by TCS' workforce strategy. The company completed annual salary increments globally, continued campus recruitment focused on digital and AI-native talent and said more than half of its lateral hires already possess next-generation skills.
Productivity First
Other companies struck a different tone but stopped short of linking AI to broad job cuts.
Wipro said AI was shortening software development cycles and improving productivity, but argued software engineering would continue to require a "human plus AI" approach because people remain essential for defining business requirements, deploying software and ensuring code quality. Management also highlighted new business opportunities emerging around AI advisory, data preparation, agent management and AI governance.
The company also clarified that while reported headcount increased after the Mindsprint acquisition, its organic workforce actually declined during the quarter.
Tech Mahindra also described AI as a structural driver of productivity rather than workforce reduction.
Chief Executive Officer Mohit Joshi said AI would create productivity pressure as the company worked towards its margin goals. At the same time, executives described AI as creating demand across modernisation, platform engineering, governance and business transformation while continuing to invest in AI capabilities and large client engagements.
ALSO READ: Indian IT Firms Ramp Up AI Hiring By 16% Even As Overall Tech Jobs Shrink
Changing Skills
HCLTech's message also centred on extracting more value from employees rather than replacing them.
The company highlighted rising revenue per employee and said it expected greater value per employee as its AI strategy matured, while continuing to invest through what management described as a significant period of business transformation.
HCLTech also focused on how AI is changing the economics of software delivery rather than discussing workforce reductions. Chief Executive Officer C Vijayakumar said the company expects revenue per employee and gross margin per employee to improve if its AI strategy plays out as planned, while continuing to invest as the business goes through what he described as a "significant inflection point and transformation."
Across the four earnings calls, management teams repeatedly spoke about AI-driven productivity, new AI services, reskilling and evolving skill requirements. TCS said it was continuing campus hiring and AI-focused lateral hiring alongside annual salary hikes. Wipro said software development would remain a "human plus AI" process. Tech Mahindra described AI as a structural lever for productivity, delivery and talent transformation, while HCLTech highlighted higher value per employee as its AI strategy evolves.
ALSO READ: Will AI Replace Your Job? Here's What TCS Actually Said
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.