AI-related hiring in India has outpaced AI-linked job losses by more than 51,000 roles, with 83,100 documented hires against 31,921 layoffs and attrition, according to a Nomura report released on 8 August 2026. The findings point to a net positive employment impact from AI in India so far, even as the technology reshapes traditional roles.
In its Asia Economic Monthly report, Nomura said India is experiencing the largest absolute impact from AI among the Asian economies it studied, across both documented layoffs and hiring. The analysis drew on 69 reported instances across Asia, mostly between 2022 and August 2026.
“We find that India is experiencing the largest absolute impact from AI across both documented layoffs/hiring freezes and AI hiring,” Nomura said, adding that “so far, the net impact is also positive for India.”
The gains, however, are unevenly spread. Nomura economists Sonal Varma and Si Ying Toh described a two-tiered labour market forming, with weaker demand for entry-level workers and relatively stronger demand for experienced professionals.
“Most firing cases are support teams replaced by chatbots, while most hiring cases are of IT-services graduates that firms explicitly credit to AI demand,” the economists wrote. They added that “since displaced workers rarely transition to AI engineering roles, the aggregates do mask distributional pain.”
The entry-level squeeze shows up in survey data. Citing an ICRIER survey of 651 firms in India’s IT sector, the report noted that 55% of companies reported a decline in entry-level hiring, against 25% reporting a drop at mid-level and 14% at senior level. Nomura also cited staffing firm Xpheno’s estimate that net hiring by Indian IT companies fell to 140,000 in FY26 from 600,000 in FY22, as firms trimmed campus recruitment rather than cutting existing staff.
Across the full Asian sample, AI-related hiring totalled 130,758 jobs, with more than 90% in the technology sector, while 60,654 jobs were lost, roughly 60% of them in financial services. Nomura cautioned that the figures indicate the direction of corporate activity rather than an economy-wide job count, since the analysis is based on company cases rather than comprehensive labour statistics.
Nomura noted that AI remains at an early stage and that its full effect on employment will take years to become clear.
