Representative image showing woman on laptop.
Credit: Pixabay Photo
Bengaluru: Though headwinds and macroeconomic uncertainty played a significant part in the IT services industry, resulting in muted growth in the first half of CY2025, things started stabilising in the second half with IT companies gradually recruiting both freshers and lateral hires. In the September quarter alone, Infosys added 8,203 employees, HCLTech added 3,489 employees, and Wipro 2,260 employees.
Infosys is on track to hire close to 20,000 freshers in FY26. During the company’s Q2 earnings conference, CEO Salil Parekh said they are scaling up massively on AI, and that they are working on many projects on enterprise AI with clients.
Skills related to data, cloud, and software engineering for digital platforms are driving the job market, said workforce and talent solutions provider Quess Corp in its latest ‘IT Workforce Trends in India 2025’ report.
According to the report, the total IT job demand reached 1.8 million roles in 2025, a 16% rise over the previous year.
Organisations are prioritising hires who can build modern, agile technology capabilities. While the share of job postings demanding AI, data, cloud, cybersecurity, and platform engineering was 38% in 2023, it increased to 52% in 2025, insights from the report showed.
“India’s IT hiring environment in 2025 marked a phase of stabilisation after an extended correction. While overall hiring remained measured, demand for specialised technology roles rose by approximately 45%, particularly across AI, data engineering, cloud modernisation and cybersecurity. Organisations shifted decisively away from volume-led recruitment towards capability-driven hiring, prioritising roles that directly support automation, platform resilience and revenue delivery,” Adecco India Director and Business Head, Professional Staffing, Sanketh Chengappa said.
As we move into 2026, IT services hiring is entering a structurally different phase. “After a prolonged period of caution, demand has begun to rebuild around core capability areas such as AI engineering, cloud modernisation, data platforms and cybersecurity. What is changing is not just the volume of hiring, but the nature of it, as organisations move from experimentation to scaled deployment. We expect a 27-30% uptick in technology roles in 2026 across IT services, startups, GCCs, and non-tech enterprises,” he said.
Chengappa also added that campus hiring has improved by 15-20%, and the sharper demand is at the mid-to-senior level, where enterprises need applied skills that integrate technology with business outcomes.
The Quess Corp report highlighted that mid-level professionals (4-10 years) form 65% of the 2025 demand, up from 50% in 2024. Due to high competition for niche talent, time-to-fill has extended to 45-60 days in 2025 (from 35 in 2022/23). Employers are now compressing cycles through faster offers and streamlined interviews.
As far as hiring in Tier-2 and 3 cities are concerned, they account for 10-12% with marginal gains during the 2024 slowdown. Ahmedabad, Kochi, Jaipur, and Coimbatore are leading secondary hubs. Still, 88-90% of IT hiring remains concentrated in Tier-1 metros.
Interestingly, high-value packages are no longer just about the pedigree of one’s college, but about specialised employability. CIEL HR MD and CEO Aditya Narayan Mishra said while top-tier institutions still dominate these numbers, the rise of tiered hiring tracks at IT services firms is finally opening the door for ‘specialists’ from any background to claim these premium packages. The data clearly shows that while the ‘floor’ remains steady, the ‘ceiling’ is exclusively for those who have moved beyond generalist skills.
Scarcity in emerging tech talent
However, talent availability is emerging as a clear constraint, with skill gaps increasing from 18% in 2023, to 25% in 2025, in high-demand areas such as AI, data engineering and cybersecurity. Addressing this gap will call for stronger industry-academia linkages, structured skilling initiatives and more flexible workforce models to support execution in 2026, Chengappa said.
Experts stress the need for upskilling employees. “As Indian IT services companies are eyeing skill-based hiring to thrive in a rapidly changing world, continuous upskilling will be critical for professionals who wish to remain competitive in this evolving market. Overall, while hiring will be more calibrated, companies will continue to invest in future-ready talent to support long-term growth,” Biz Staffing Comrade Managing Partner Puneet Arora said.
Highlights - Total IT job demand (in million) 2022 1.382023 1.75 (+26%)2024 1.55 (-11%)2025 1.80 (+16%) Recruitment Trends There will be gradual growth in remote/distributed hiring that could increase the share of non-metro talent in the IT workforce by 2026-27 Organisations that maintained warm talent pipelines during the 2024 slowdown are benefitting in 2025’s upcycle, having the ability to hiring quickly as needs arise Mid-career professionals are the most sought-after talent segment in 2025 Emerging technology fields are experiencing the fastest growth in hiring, as companies double down on digital transformation, data-driven projects, and automation In 2025, Bengaluru alone posted 420,000 IT job openings Source: Quess Corp
Quote - "Much of the hiring during the year was driven by mid-career professionals. AI cloud and cybersecurity skills saw particularly strong interest. The technology hiring market is moving steadily up the value curve. This momentum offers a positive base as hiring conversations carry into 2026" - Kapil Joshi CEO of IT Staffing Quess Corp