Is Coding Still a Good Career in India After TCS and Infosys Layoffs? (2026) (Updated July 2026)

Is Coding Still a Good Career in India After TCS and Infosys Layoffs? (2026) (Updated July 2026) (Updated July 2026)

TCS announced layoffs of 12,000 employees in July 2025. Infosys followed with similar workforce reductions. Wipro and Cognizant have been quietly shrinking their benches throughout 2025–2026. And across WhatsApp groups, LinkedIn posts, and family dinner tables across India, the same question is being asked: is IT still a good career? Here's the honest answer: IT is not dying in India. But the specific version of IT that got a generation of engineers stable, well-paying jobs through the 2010s — outsourced feature development, BPO work, manual testing, and CRUD application delivery for Western clients — is contracting. NASSCOM-Deloitte projects 1.25 million new AI-driven tech roles in India by 2027, but these aren't replacements for the same roles that got cut. They're a different kind of IT job, requiring different skills. What most people don't realize is that India's IT sector in 2026 is simultaneously shrinking in some areas and growing explosively in others — and whether your career is in the shrinking part or the growing part depends entirely on which skills you've developed. This guide gives you the data-backed answer: which roles are at risk, which are growing, and what to do regardless of your current experience level.

What the TCS and Infosys Layoffs Actually Tell Us (and Don't Tell Us)

The TCS layoffs of 12,000 in July 2025 are significant, but the narrative that 'IT is dying' misreads what actually happened. TCS simultaneously announced: 40,000 new hires in AI and technology for FY2026. The net employment change for TCS was positive. What actually happened was a job type rotation: the roles eliminated (entry-level feature development, BPO, manual QA) were replaced by smaller numbers of higher-skill, higher-value AI-adjacent roles. Infosys tells the same story: its headcount reduction in BPO and outsourced development was accompanied by aggressive expansion in its AI-first service lines. The key insight: the layoffs were not driven by a decline in demand for IT work — India's IT sector revenues continued to grow in 2025. They were driven by AI productivity gains that compressed the amount of human labor needed to deliver the same volume of low-complexity IT work. The implication for IT professionals: your job security is not about whether you're in IT — it's about whether you're in the part of IT that AI is replacing or the part that AI is amplifying.

Which IT Roles Are Growing in India in 2026?

The IT roles with the strongest hiring momentum in India in 2026, based on Naukri posting volume and salary data: (1) AI/ML Engineer — 3.2x more postings than 2024, salaries ₹12–28 LPA. Companies actively hiring: Infosys AI unit, TCS GenAI CoE, Bangalore AI startups, KPIT Pune (for automotive AI). (2) Data Engineer / Data Platform Engineer — steady 40% year-on-year growth in postings. Every company building an AI system needs data infrastructure first. Salaries ₹14–28 LPA for 4–8 year profiles. (3) Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure/GCP) — cloud spend continues to grow as companies move AI workloads to cloud platforms. Senior cloud architects with 6–10 years earn ₹22–38 LPA. (4) DevOps / MLOps / Platform Engineer — the engineering required to deploy, monitor, and maintain AI systems at scale. Salaries ₹14–28 LPA. (5) Cybersecurity Engineer — AI has expanded the attack surface significantly; every AI deployment needs security review. Salaries ₹12–25 LPA. (6) Full-Stack Developer with AI integration skills — developers who can build LLM-powered product features (RAG systems, AI copilots, conversational interfaces). Salaries ₹14–28 LPA. These roles are not replaceable by AI in the near term — they require judgment, system design thinking, and domain expertise.

IT Role	2026 Job Market	Salary Range	Action
Entry-level outsourcing dev	Shrinking	₹3–6 LPA (flat)	Upskill urgently
AI/ML Engineer	Fast growing	₹12–28 LPA	Move here
Cloud Architect	Steady growth	₹20–38 LPA	High target
Data Engineer	Strong growth	₹14–28 LPA	Move here
Manual QA tester	Declining	₹3–6 LPA (declining)	Transition to AI testing

Which IT Roles Are at Highest Risk and Why?

The IT roles at highest risk in India in 2026 share a common characteristic: their primary output is structured, well-defined, and reproducible by AI given adequate prompting. Highest risk categories: (1) Entry-level feature developers at IT services companies (0–3 years) whose job is implementing predefined tickets in existing codebases. GitHub Copilot and agentic coding tools handle most of this workflow now. (2) Manual QA testers — AI generates test cases and runs automated checks far faster. Manual QA headcount at major Indian IT firms has declined 15–25% since 2024. (3) SQL/data reporting specialists whose job is query writing for business reports — natural language SQL tools replace this workflow. (4) CRUD application developers at outsourcing firms — standard business application development productivity has increased 5–10x with AI assistance, compressing the headcount needed. (5) BPO and data entry processing roles — the highest-risk category; these are not returning. If your role is primarily data entry, document processing, or structured information extraction, you should be actively retraining now.

Is It Still Worth Starting an IT Career in India in 2026?

For students and fresh graduates considering an IT career in India in 2026: the answer is still yes, but the path is narrower than it was in 2018. The safe starting points for fresh IT entrants are: Python with genuine depth (not surface-level, AI-assisted knowledge), cloud fundamentals (AWS Solutions Architect Associate is the standard entry credential), and AI/ML basics (understanding model architectures, training concepts, evaluation — not just using ChatGPT). The dangerous starting point is: 'I'll take a full-stack web development course and get an IT job at an outsourcing company.' This path, which worked well through 2022, now competes with AI-assisted development tools that have made junior full-stack developers dramatically less scarce. The better starting point in 2026: Python + AI API integration + one specialisation (data engineering, cloud, or agentic development). This skill combination is genuinely under-supplied in India's market and commands ₹8–14 LPA for trained freshers with portfolio projects. ABC Trainings' AI Powered Application Development program is structured around exactly this combination — Python depth, AI integration, and applied AI project development.

What Working IT Professionals Should Do Right Now

For working IT professionals with 3–10 years of experience watching the layoffs: the most important thing is to accurately assess whether your current role is in the shrinking or growing segment. If you're in the shrinking segment (feature dev, BPO-adjacent, manual testing), the time to retrain is now — not after a layoff. The retraining investment is real but manageable: a 3–6 month focused upskilling in AI/ML, data engineering, or cloud architecture costs ₹20,000–80,000 in structured training and significantly more in time commitment, but the salary premium on the other side (₹15–25 LPA vs ₹8–12 LPA) pays back within 6–12 months. The practical retraining paths: (1) Backend/API developer → data engineering (add PySpark, Airflow, Kafka, and a cloud data platform); (2) Full-stack developer → AI product engineer (add LLM integration, RAG architecture, evaluation frameworks); (3) QA engineer → AI testing and evaluation specialist (emerging high-demand role); (4) Project manager with tech exposure → AI project manager (add LLM vendor evaluation and AI deployment management skills). CMYKPY ₹6,000–10,000 scheme support available for eligible Maharashtra candidates retraining in AI and technology.

Eligible Maharashtra IT professionals retraining in AI can access CMYKPY ₹6,000–10,000 scheme support at ABC Trainings. Call 7039169629 to check eligibility.

FAQs

Are TCS and Infosys still hiring for IT roles in India in 2026?

Yes — TCS announced 40,000 new hires for FY2026, and Infosys continues to hire aggressively in AI, data, and cloud roles. The layoffs were a job-type rotation, not an overall employment decline. Both companies are growing their AI-specialised workforce while reducing headcount in outsourced feature development and BPO. The roles they're hiring for now: AI engineers, data engineers, cloud architects, and LLM integration specialists.

Should I join an IT outsourcing company in 2026 as a fresher?

Joining a traditional IT outsourcing firm as a fresher for a standard feature development role in 2026 carries more risk than it did in 2018–2022. If the role is AI-adjacent — working on AI platform development, data engineering, or ML operations — it's a solid career start. If the role is traditional feature development with no AI component, you should plan your upskilling path from day one rather than assuming the role provides long-term security.

Which IT skills have the most job security in India in 2026?

The most job-secure IT skills in India in 2026: AI/ML engineering, data engineering with cloud platforms, cloud architecture (AWS/Azure/GCP certified), cybersecurity, and systems reliability engineering. These roles require judgment, system-level thinking, and domain expertise that AI cannot yet substitute. They're also the highest-compensated, which creates a talent market that absorbs good people regardless of company-level hiring freezes.

Does ABC Trainings help with career transition from traditional IT to AI roles?

Yes. ABC Trainings' AI Powered Application Development program at Hadapsar and Wagholi is specifically designed for this transition — covering Python fundamentals, AI API integration (LLM tooling, agent frameworks), and applied AI project development. The program equips IT professionals and freshers with the practical skill stack for AI engineering roles that India's 2026 market is actively hiring for. Call 7039169629 or WhatsApp 7774002496.