If you have been reading tech layoff trackers this year, the numbers have been grim: more than 175,000 technology workers laid off globally in 2026 so far, by industry counts. So a hiring rebound arriving from an unexpected direction is worth pausing on.
India’s six largest IT services companies added a combined 5,400 employees in the first quarter of India’s current financial year, reversing a net reduction of 7,100 jobs in the previous quarter. Tata Consultancy Services accounted for much of that increase, adding 9,000 employees — its largest quarterly workforce addition in three years, according to reporting by Millennium Post published on 2 September.
🔍 THE BOTTOM LINE
The firms that spent a year trimming headcount are hiring again, but not the way they used to. Campus hiring has given way to demand-driven recruitment focused on AI, data and cybersecurity skills. The rebound is real, but it is a different kind of hiring — and it suggests AI’s first-order effect on the massive global tech-services workforce has been reshaping, not shrinking, at least for now.
The Year in Numbers
The context matters as much as the rebound. Millennium Post’s tally of the past financial year for India’s five largest IT firms:
- A combined net reduction of 6,981 employees in FY26, versus a net addition of 12,718 in FY25.
- Industry body Nasscom estimates the sector’s total workforce still grew, by around 135,000 to 5.9 million in 2026.
- The same reporting notes more than 175,000 tech workers laid off globally in 2026 so far, on pace with 2025’s total of more than 245,000 for the full year.
Against that backdrop, the June-quarter additions of 5,400 across the big six — and TCS’s 9,000 alone — mark a genuine reversal in direction. One quarter does not make a trend, but the swing from minus 7,100 to plus 5,400 in 90 days is a signal that the contraction phase may have found a floor.
The Character of the New Hiring
What has changed is how these firms staff up. Indian staffing executives quoted in the report describe recruitment increasingly tied to actual project demand rather than large-scale hiring to maintain bench strength — the traditional model of training thousands of fresh graduates ahead of contracts that may or may not arrive.
Kamal Karanth, co-founder of staffing firm Xpheno, told the publication that AI’s impact on engineering jobs is likely to become clearer over the next two to three years, particularly for junior and mid-level engineers working on lower-complexity tasks. That is a measured caution, not a collapse prediction.
At the same time, Global Capability Centres — the offshore hubs multinationals run in India — are growing as employers, but with a different skills profile: AI, data analytics, product development, cybersecurity and digital engineering. Some graduates have experienced long delays joining roles they were already offered, as companies became more selective about campus recruitment.
The constructive reading for early-career technologists: the pipeline is not closed, but it has moved. Entry points are increasingly in AI-adjacent and specialisations rather than generalist development, and companies that once hired in bulk now hire in bursts tied to specific demand.
Why a New Zealand Reader Should Care
New Zealand does not have an IT services industry of India’s scale, but it is deeply connected to it. Many of the Indian majors — TCS, Infosys, Wipro among them — maintain New Zealand operations and delivery relationships serving banks, government agencies and large enterprises. Hiring cycles at these firms feed directly into the offshore capacity available to NZ organisations, and into the market faced by NZ-based contractors competing alongside offshore delivery teams.
There is also a domestic skills signal. If global demand is concentrating on AI, data and security skills, that pressure lands on New Zealand’s own talent market too — the same specialisations are what NZ employers report struggling to fill. And for NZ graduates looking abroad, the resurgence of demand-driven hiring at global firms offers a datapoint that entry paths exist, provided the skills match what projects actually need.
The caveat worth keeping in view: the global layoff tally is still climbing, and several of the same Indian firms have had rounds of performance-based exits this year. A rebound quarter does not erase a restructuring year. But the direction of travel in the most recent quarter — hiring, concentrated in AI-relevant skills — is a more encouraging datapoint than the year’s headlines alone would suggest.
FAQ
How many jobs did India’s big IT firms add recently? India’s six largest IT companies added a combined 5,400 employees in the June 2026 quarter, reversing a net reduction of 7,100 the previous quarter. TCS alone added 9,000, its largest quarterly addition in three years.
How many tech layoffs happened globally in 2026? More than 175,000 technology workers have been laid off globally in 2026 so far, according to industry trackers cited by Millennium Post, compared with more than 245,000 for all of 2025.
Is AI causing tech companies to stop hiring? The evidence points to reshaping rather than stopping. The same companies cutting roles are hiring for AI, data, cybersecurity and cloud positions, and India’s sector workforce still grew overall in 2026, though far more slowly than before.
What does this mean for New Zealand tech workers? NZ organisations rely on offshore delivery from these firms, so their hiring cycles affect local capacity and pricing. Domestically, the demand concentration in AI, data and cybersecurity skills mirrors what NZ employers report struggling to fill — those remain the highest-opportunity specialisations.
— CJ Murden, editor of Singularity.Kiwi. Former digital technologies teacher, author of AI-focused books. Writing with a New Zealand focus.
