Kritika 
(C): Unsplash
But India’s tech hiring landscape is about to flash a warning sign — not all bad news. The U.S. tech industry’s job market has softened. Active job openings in the sector fell to a 28-month low of 93,000 in early June 2026, down from 119,000 in March. That’s a 14% dip from last month and down 17% for the year ending June 2025.
What’s Causing the Tech Job Openings Decline in India?
The pullback doesn’t occur in a sudden fashion. It’s caused by a combination of factors:
AI is working with fewer resources and still getting more done. With AI being adopted in IT companies, the growth of revenue is more and more independent from the number of employees. Businesses no longer have to employ in the same quantity as before. Recently, TCS released 25,000 offers for its campus recruitment for the year, which is drastically down from the 40,000+ offers it had a few years ago. Infosys is striving to hire approximately 20,000 people in the current fiscal.
Uncertainty in the world is causing businesses to be cautious. Indian IT companies have been faced with a “wait and see” attitude with respect to hiring, owing to geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic headwinds and continued uncertainty over the US H-1B visa policy. The H-1B factor is clearly on top of the list — restrictions impact staffing of projects and access to global markets by businesses.
Hiring is now ‘just in time’. Companies are shifting from a large bench to hiring when and where it is needed, that is, demand-driven hiring.
The opening, which is relatively low, is particularly tight. 44% reduction in jobs open to those with less than 2 years of experience. There has been an astounding 67% decline in senior job roles. Campus hiring continues to be 30-35% lower than the historical average.
Not All Bad News: GCCs Are Holding the Line
Bright spots include Global Capability Centres (GCCs), which rose by 12% month-on-month to approximately 21,000 jobs. The Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are a bright spot, with the number of jobs in the sector increasing by 12% month-on-month to about 21,000. In fact, the number of openings in GCC has increased by 31% when compared to a year ago, which is an indicator of multinational companies’ continued investment in India as a venue for higher-paying, specialised projects.
There is a more complex picture of tech jobs than reflected in the headline figure. As of the end of May 2026, the number of technology-related job postings declined by 1.9% year-on-year, but rose 8.2% compared with the same month in 2022. The IT infrastructure and support sector was the only area that reported an increase in hiring, up 20% compared to the previous year.
The IT Skills in Demand Right Now
The golden nugget is that it’s not a market that has ceased to recruit. It’s a market that’s employing in a different manner; one that is looking for niche professionals that can make an immediate and visible contribution. These are the top in-demand IT skills that employers are looking for:
Artificial Intelligence & Generative AI
AI jobs in India are exploding, with volumes of jobs decreasing. Machine learning, LLM fine-tuning, prompt engineering are some of the hot jobs out there. Companies aren’t just dabbling in AI, they’re baking it into their products and processes, and they need people who can pull that off.
Data Engineering & Data Science
Data science roles in India are continuing to gain momentum, and there is a growing demand for candidates who are proficient in coding languages such as Python and data platforms like Snowflake, as well as data visualisation tools like Tableau and Power BI. The creation and maintenance of robust data pipelines is a real differentiator in the pursuit of businesses to move towards data-driven decision-making.
Cloud Computing & DevOps
As businesses rush into the modernisation of their infrastructure, cloud computing jobs in India are also on the rise. We particularly welcome applications from candidates with an emphasis on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform, as well as experience with CI/CD pipelines. There is a steady demand for cloud engineers in particular.
Cybersecurity
As digital infrastructure continues to grow at an ever-fastening pace, cybersecurity careers are growing in importance. From threat detection specialists to secure infrastructure and compliance professionals, they’re all in short supply and in high demand. This is the most glaring area where there is a huge lack of talent.
IT Infrastructure & Support
IT infrastructure jobs are one of the best areas of hiring, even though they are not in the spotlight — up 20% year-on-year. The operators of the systems that enable companies to modernise their legacy systems for AI are priceless.
What This Means If You’re Job Hunting
There has been a dramatic slowdown in generalist tech jobs. However, the reality is quite competitive when it comes to IT professionals who have developed the right skills for the job in the market, specifically in the areas of AI, cloud, data and security. Today, 38% (or some 46,000) of the job openings are for mid-level and senior-level professionals, and employers are willing to pay for specialised skills.
The whole job market in the IT industry in 2026 is one of quality over quantity. It is not only sound advice to upskill in emerging tech skills, but also a key ticket to staying relevant in India’s ever-changing tech workforce.
Recruiters cannot expect this slowdown to continue in the long term. Clarification is expected to grow on investment returns of AI, and economic headwinds are easing, making entry-level IT services hiring set to improve. This is the time to gain the IT skills that are needed — and will be the first to be needed when the market gets hot.
More Tech Hiring Trends To Explore
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