India's technology sector is projected to add nearly 1.25 lakh — about 125,000 — jobs in 2026 through AI-led growth, according to Adecco projections cited by Rajesh Rai, SVP and CHRO, APAC, at GlobalLogic. Much of that demand is concentrated in emerging areas rather than traditional technology roles.

Rai told People Matters that the shift touches core people-process decisions for employers operating in India's $283 billion IT industry: hiring criteria, managerial roles, retention strategy and internal mobility design. The conversation, he said, is moving away from labour arbitrage toward capability, innovation and continuous learning.

"India's talent advantage remains hugely significant, but the nature of that advantage is evolving," Rai said. "Traditionally, for some time, India's reputation rested on workforce scale and cost efficiency. No longer. Today, the focus has definitely and increasingly shifted toward learning agility, specialised expertise, and the ability to adapt continuously as AI reshapes the workplace."

What are employers now screening for?

Rai said organisations increasingly prioritise professionals who can:

• Learn quickly and adapt continuously
• Apply judgement in complex situations
• Collaborate effectively across teams
• Navigate change with confidence
• Demonstrate digital fluency and critical thinking
• Make contextual business decisions

"As technology becomes more integrated into everyday work, digital fluency, critical thinking, and contextual decision-making are becoming increasingly important differentiators," he said.

Client expectations have shifted in parallel. Technical expertise alone no longer wins the evaluation.

"Client expectations today are closely tied to business outcomes, innovation, and specialised expertise," Rai said. "There is strong demand for capabilities across AI, cloud, data, and AI-native engineering, but the difference is that these skills are now needed alongside the skills of problem-solving, collaboration, and business understanding and advisory."

His summary is blunt: "Today, organisations are looking for talent that can create business value, not just execute predefined tasks."

How is automation changing the labour-cost equation?

AI itself poses one of the strongest challenges to India's traditional advantage. Recent industry reports, Rai noted, suggest AI is already reshaping labour-intensive delivery models across the $283 billion IT industry, with automation "helping compress project timelines and reduce reliance on large teams for routine work."

The consequence for workforce planning is direct. "Scale alone is no longer the differentiator it once was," he said. "As a result, the conversation has moved beyond cost efficiency toward value creation, specialised expertise, adaptability, and measurable business impact."

For HR leaders, that means demand forecasts built on headcount expansion may need rebuilding around capability density instead.

Which capabilities will define competitiveness?

Rai identified several areas likely to shape future competitiveness:

• Agentic AI
• Cybersecurity
• Data engineering
• Design engineering
• AI data centre ecosystems
• Internal talent mobility
• Continuous workforce learning

He also flagged a less-discussed edge: "Empathy in the age of AI is going to be the biggest edge in the fast-moving world."

Governance demands rise alongside it. "Governance, human oversight, accountability, and trust will become important differentiators as AI becomes embedded across business processes," he said — a signal that people functions will share responsibility for AI oversight frameworks, not just IT.

Why internal mobility is becoming a retention lever

Career expectations are changing as fast as the technology, Rai said. Professionals continuously build new capabilities and expect organisations to create opportunities that evolve at the same pace.

"Competitiveness increasingly depends on making career growth more visible, flexible, and skill-led rather than limiting progression to traditional role structures," he said. "Retention today is highly linked to opportunity visibility and continuous movement, not just rewards or compensation."

That reframes retention budgets: opportunity visibility and internal mobility may now carry more weight than pay alone.

Are managers becoming capability builders?

Rai sees a fundamental shift in leadership expectations. "Managers are not mere performance reviewers; they act as the critical bridge between learning, performance, and career growth," he said.

The emphasis moves to coaching, empowerment, experimentation and continuous capability development. "Leadership is increasingly moving from command-and-control towards coaching, empowerment, and enablement," he said, adding that organisations will need to invest consistently in managerial capabilities such as coaching, empathy and active listening as workplaces become more technology-driven.

What comes next for India's talent model?

Over the next decade, Rai argued, India's position depends on moving beyond execution. "India's position over the next decade will be defined by its ability to innovate and transform different industries rather than just being a backend support team," he said.

He expects demand to grow for talent that pairs AI capabilities with human-centred strengths. "As AI adoption accelerates, organizations will need talent that combines AI-led digital fluency with empathy, critical thinking, and contextual decision-making," he said, stressing that AI adoption must remain "deeply people-centric, with strong governance, transparency, and human oversight."

With 125,000 AI-led roles forecast for 2026, the employers best positioned to fill them will be those that make skill-led career paths visible, retrain managers as coaches, and tie technology investments to measurable business value.