For decades, tech companies have highly trusted India’s vast workforce ranges from entry-level call center jobs to software engineers and high-ranking managerial positions.
But with the advent of advanced AI, with which employers have significantly cut down on hiring with the hope of eventually completely automating tasks, India’s tech workforce is facing a very different reality in 2026.
As rest of the world reportsGrowing concerns over the impact of AI, on top of the already tough 90-hour work week, have proven devastating for workers. While it is difficult to pinpoint a definitive cause, a disturbing wave of suicides among tech workers highlights these untenable conditions.
The lack of clear government data on tragic deaths is complicating the picture. But experts said it’s impossible to tell whether they’re more prevalent among IT workers. rest of the world The state of mental health in the tech industry is nevertheless “very worrying”.
Jayant Mukhopadhyay, senior professor of computer science and engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, said the possibility of AI making their careers redundant is a major stressor, with tech workers facing “huge uncertainty about their jobs”. rest of the world.
Although there could be many reasons for the large number of job cuts in the United States, experts say entry-level jobs are most at risk. India’s IT industry has also been particularly vulnerable, as companies have sought to invest in AI with the hopes of cutting costs by eliminating jobs such as customer service representatives.
“Traditional consulting roles in the services industry are going to be impacted much more than traditional product-development companies,” said Aditya Vashishtha, an IT assistant professor at Cornell University. rest of the world.
Meanwhile, educational institutions in India are continuously turning out graduates, further exacerbating the problem of fewer jobs. India’s largest private sector employer cut approximately 20,000 jobs at the end of last year, indicating a more widespread trend.
Those who remain employed face immense pressure to keep innovating. Many of them struggle to separate work from their personal lives. The extended hours and isolation that result from working around the clock and across time zones only worsen the situation.
Additionally there is a constant threat of being made obsolete by AI, which has driven many of the workers identified rest of the world On the brink – and in some cases, on the edge.
It’s a scary new trend, highlighting the human cost of massive layoffs and major technological shifts that are reshaping roles across industries.
Employers in India, like many of their counterparts in the US, are locked in a battle to adapt to the new world order dictated by AI – or will be left behind.
Still, employment prospects in IT in the country do not look very good.
“In a world of AI, the number of people needed to work in IT services will be significantly less than at present,” said Saurabh Mukherjee, founder and chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers. told cnbc earlier this month.
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