Entry-level hiring in India’s IT services industry is gradually rebounding after a sharp decline post-pandemic, coinciding with increased investment into domestic semiconductor innovation and AI hardware development.
Hiring of entry-level staff in India’s IT services sector appears to be recovering after a sharp post-pandemic pullback, with fresher intake showing a gradual rebound from the lows of recent years. The figures cited in The Economic Times show annual hiring falling from 380,000 in FY22 to 250,000 in FY23, then to 155,000 in FY24 and 125,000 in FY25, before edging up to about 110,000 in FY26. The improvement is modest, but it suggests that large technology employers are once again bringing in graduates after a prolonged period of caution.
The slowdown in 2023 reflected weaker spending by clients, especially in banking, financial services and insurance, which had been a major source of work for outsourcing firms. Higher interest rates, tighter budgets and slower technology investment forced many companies to re-examine hiring plans, leaving fresh graduates with fewer openings than in the boom years. Even so, labour-market data later pointed to a small recovery, with TeamLease EdTech reporting a 3% increase in fresher hiring in the second half of 2023 as overall hiring sentiment improved.
That renewed caution in legacy IT hiring stands in contrast to the capital now flowing into newer technology bets. According to The Economic Times, Bengaluru-based Agrani Labs is in talks to raise between Rs 800 crore and Rs 850 crore from Samsung, 360 One Asset Management and existing backer Peak XV Partners. The startup is also seeking roughly Rs 120 crore to Rs 130 crore under the government-backed Research, Development and Innovation scheme. If completed, the round would value Agrani at about Rs 2,400 crore to Rs 2,500 crore after the investment, making it one of the largest early-stage fundraisings by an Indian semiconductor company.
Agrani, founded by former Intel and AMD executives, is developing high-performance AI GPUs for data centres alongside a software stack designed to support them. The company emerged from stealth earlier this year after an $8 million seed round led by Peak XV. Separate industry coverage has previously described its pitch as part of a wider effort to build indigenous AI chip capability in India, where demand for domestic semiconductor design is rising but the ecosystem remains at an early stage.
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