Nasscom chief Rajesh Nambiar: AI squeezing fresh graduates out of IT jobs

Rajesh Nambiar, president of Nasscom, the body that represents India's technology industry, has warned that fresh engineering graduates could find it harder to get technology jobs because artificial intelligence (AI) is taking over the entry-level coding and software testing work that has traditionally given them their first job. In an interview published by Nikkei Asia on Saturday, 7 November 2026, he called for an urgent overhaul of what computer science students are taught, and said Nasscom is designing a joint AI undergraduate curriculum with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and other agencies, which he expects to take about six months to be approved.

For two decades, India's IT services industry has been the biggest single employer of engineering graduates. Freshers have typically started on routine work: writing standard code and testing software for bugs. That entry layer is exactly where today's AI coding assistants are strongest. An AI coding assistant is a tool that writes, checks or fixes program code when a person describes what they want in plain language. When such tools can do much of a junior developer's routine work, companies need fewer beginners for the same output.

Nambiar's warning is significant because it comes from the industry's own lobby body, not from an outside critic. It signals that employers expect the mix of skills they hire for to change, and that the change is happening faster than college syllabuses are updated. The industry body is now asking for a change within months.

For students, the practical message is that knowing how to write basic code is no longer enough on its own. Skills that pair with AI tools, such as checking and correcting machine-written code, understanding data, system design and domain knowledge, are likely to matter more. The joint curriculum Nasscom describes would be an attempt to build those skills into degree courses rather than leave them to private courses after graduation.

The broader numbers show why the concern is real. A sector that employs around 6 million people added only about 135,000 jobs in FY26 by Nasscom's own projection, or about 2.3% growth in a year.

Peepals calculation: Nasscom's projected net addition of about 135,000 jobs on a base of roughly 5.87 million (6 million ÷ 1.023 ≈ 5.87 million) matches the reported growth of 2.3% (135,000 ÷ 5.87 million ≈ 2.3%). Put another way, for every 1,000 people already working in Indian tech, the industry is adding only about 23 net new jobs a year. Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Final-year engineering students and recent graduates face a tougher entry market, with routine coding and testing roles shrinking. Colleges will be under pressure to add AI-related courses even before a national curriculum is approved.

Long-term: If the UGC-backed AI curriculum is approved and adopted, the content of computer science degrees across India could change, with more emphasis on working alongside AI tools. The shape of the IT workforce may shift from large numbers of juniors to fewer, more skilled entrants.

Who is affected: Engineering and computer science students, recent graduates looking for their first IT job, colleges and universities, and IT services companies that hire freshers.

What to watch next: Nambiar expects the joint AI undergraduate curriculum to take about six months to be approved.

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