Overview
Despite recent headlines of layoffs, India’s technology sector continues to expand. NASSCOM’s latest Strategic Review estimates total sector revenue at roughly $283 billion for FY 2025 and projects it to exceed $315 billion by FY 2026. The industry’s workforce is expected to reach about 5.8 million professionals.
AI Adoption and Spending
Surveys of Indian organisations indicate that over 90 % anticipate further increases in AI expenditure. Industry reports describe AI as moving from pilot projects to core infrastructure by FY 2025‑26, with organisations across banking, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, retail and education investing heavily in AI and broader digital technologies. The primary challenge is shifting from rapid software creation to effective technology integration, change management and delivery of measurable business outcomes.
Opportunity in the MSME Segment
India hosts 6.3 crore (63 million) micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which together contribute approximately 29‑30 % of GDP and more than 45 % of exports, making them the second‑largest employer after agriculture with over 100 million livelihoods supported. A large share of these firms remain under‑digitised and lack access to seasoned technology leadership, structured AI adoption programmes, and modern enterprise systems.
Talent Distribution Challenge
The country does not suffer from a shortage of technology talent; rather, the talent is unevenly distributed. Experienced professionals who have built and scaled technology for global enterprises are now available for flexible, project‑based engagements. This creates a supply‑demand intersection that could reshape India’s technology landscape.
Emerging Flexible Consulting Model
The next phase of digital transformation is expected to be driven by platforms and firms that can deploy experienced architects, AI practitioners and implementation leaders on a fractional, outcome‑driven basis. Rather than maintaining large, permanent in‑house IT teams, SMBs can tap into specialist talent as needed, while professionals can work across multiple organisations, delivering transformation programmes that generate measurable outcomes.
Implications for the Economy
If the experienced technology workforce is redirected toward helping millions of SMBs adopt AI and digital solutions, the current period of layoffs could be viewed as the start of a more distributed technology economy. The broader technology and BPM sectors are projected to contribute close to 10 % of India’s GDP by the mid‑2020s, reinforcing the sector’s central role in growth.
About the Author and Companies
Kavita Rai is the Founder & Managing Partner of Vantrix, a strategy, talent and technology firm, and the Founder of MindMach Technologies, Vantrix’s talent‑solutions platform. She brings over a decade of leadership experience from Accenture, Snapdeal, Vedantu and Unacademy, and regularly writes and speaks on AI, workforce transformation and the future of business.
About Vantrix
Vantrix provides strategic advisory, technology expertise and talent capabilities to help organisations scale and transform. Through its ecosystem, MindMach Technologies offers executive search, staffing and workforce solutions that enable businesses to access specialised technology talent on a flexible, on‑demand basis.
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