According to a survey, there has been a change in the hiring trend of AI expertise in India, with companies increasingly looking to implement AI in governance and increase workflow. This shift from experimenting to execution is reflected in the hiring trends.
According to the ‘India AI Workforce Analysis 2026’ report by staffing and workforce solutions company Quess Corp, employers are now looking for professionals who can deploy, manage, integrate, and scale AI solutions across core business operations. The focus has moved from AI experimentation to implementation.
The study estimated that 9,20,000 people work in artificial intelligence in India, using secondary data and 3.5 lakh job ads. Among them, 6,63,000 work in roles that incorporate AI and 2,57,000 work in core AI roles.
Dissimilarities in job descriptions were identified in the report. Recruitment is underway at both GCCs and IT services companies for the purpose of building reusable internal AI platforms, integrating and governing enterprises, and delivering AI across client programs.
According to the survey, businesses are being picky about who they hire in order to integrate AI with their HR, financial, risk, operations, customer service, and personnel management systems.
It stated that out of 3.5 lakh active jobs, 66–68% are for core AI roles, while 32–34% are for AI-embedded roles.
On the other hand, the report stated that the demand mix is the inverse of the supply base, with just 26-28% of the 9,20,000 workforce employed in core AI roles and 72-74% in AI-embedded roles.Our research shows that three separate growth engines for AI have emerged. IT services are making large-scale AI deployment more industrialised, GCCs are developing AI platforms and governance capabilities that can be reused, and corporations are integrating AI into their workflows and decision-making processes. “They are reshaping the talent landscape in a way that values execution capability over experimentation,” stated Kapil Joshi, CEO of Quess IT Staffing.
According to him, over 70% of India’s AI workers aren’t typical AI professionals anymore, and a third of the need for AI is coming from areas like operations, customer service, marketing, government, and workforce management.An additional 45-60% of customer operations activities might be AI-augmented, and marketing functions are experiencing one of the most rapid AI-led changes, he said.
Image: The Indian Express
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