Nasscom graduates could struggle to find technology jobs as artificial intelligence takes over the entry-level coding and software testing work that has long been their way into the industry. Rajesh Nambiar, president of the National Association of Software and Services Companies, known as Nasscom, gave the warning in an interview with Nikkei Asia on 6 November. He said the threat to the traditional business model means new skills will be required, and he called for a rapid overhaul of India’s technology education. India Today and other outlets reported the interview the same week, and the warning has since been picked up across the Indian press.
The warning lands on a very large cohort. India produces more than 1.5 million engineering graduates a year, and Nasscom graduates enter a market where the first rung of the ladder is narrowing. The country had 5,903 engineering and technology colleges in the financial year ending March 2026, with enrolments close to 2.6 million, according to official estimates. Nasscom’s own review projects roughly 6 million direct tech jobs in the 2025-26 financial year, but a net addition of just 135,000, a 2.3 percent rise on the year before. Graduate intake has fallen from earlier peaks, even as some firms favour AI-equipped Nasscom graduates over costly experienced staff.
Nasscom graduates and the entry-level squeeze
The work at risk is the work that used to teach beginners the job. Basic coding and software testing have traditionally handed graduates their first jobs at firms such as TCS and Infosys, and both are now being automated. Nambiar told Nikkei Asia that if the education system cannot change fast enough, students will finish their courses with skills that employers no longer need. His words were blunt: “If our education system is unable to make that transition very quickly, students will come out with skill sets which may be very obsolete already.” The warning raises two linked decisions for employers: how many Nasscom graduates to recruit, and how to develop their judgment when AI performs more of the routine work that once taught them the job.
The squeeze on Nasscom graduates goes beyond headcount. Nasscom graduates who do get hired face a different first year from the one their predecessors had, because the routine tasks that built their knowledge are the first to be handed to AI tools. A July 2026 Nasscom report, “The State of AI-Native Talent in India”, found that more than 90 percent of the country’s early-career technology professionals have already adopted AI, yet only 23 percent qualify as AI-native, while roughly two-thirds count as AI-proficient. Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Nasscom, said academia must strengthen fundamentals while industry redesigns onboarding and mentorship, so that the decline of routine work does not lead to a decline in deep engineering expertise. The report warned that India risks building a workforce that depends on AI tools rather than developing professionals who are truly AI-native.
Nasscom graduates: the curriculum fix
Nambiar’s answer is a new curriculum. Nasscom is co-designing a joint AI undergraduate curriculum with the University Grants Commission and other agencies, and Nambiar expects it to take about six months to approve. The government has also begun introducing AI education initiatives, including teaching the subject to children as young as eight. The aim is to produce Nasscom graduates who can work with AI systems rather than only write code by hand, and who can judge the output of the tools they use. Nambiar, who was India chairman and managing director of Cognizant before moving to Nasscom in August 2024, has put the curriculum at the centre of the industry body’s response, and he has called for the change to happen quickly.
What the numbers say about hiring
The figures behind the warning are mixed rather than bleak. India’s technology industry employs an estimated 5.95 million people in 2026, according to a report based on company disclosures and workforce interviews, and Nasscom’s review still projects a net addition of 135,000 direct tech jobs in 2025-26. The pressure sits at the entry level, where hiring has fallen from earlier peaks and where AI now does much of the coding and testing that used to go to freshers. For Nasscom graduates, the next six months matter: the joint curriculum with the University Grants Commission is expected to take about that long to approve, and until it reaches classrooms, students will keep graduating into a market that wants skills their courses did not teach.