India's AI Market Grows but Talent Gap Expected to Reach 53% by 2026: TeamLease Digital Increasingly sought-after AI skills include Prompt Engineering, LLM Safety and Tuning, AI Orchestration, Agent Design, Simulation Governance, and AI Compliance & Risk Ops

India's AI market is entering a hyper-growth phase, projected to reach USD 28.8 billion by 2025 at a 45 per cent CAGR, with AI now central to enterprise value creation. However, this growth comes with a severe talent shortage: for every 10 open GenAI roles, only one qualified engineer is available. By 2026, the AI talent gap is expected to reach 53 per cent, while cloud computing is projected to face a 55-60 per cent demand-supply mismatch, according to a latest 'Digital Skills & Salary Primer Report for FY25-26' by TeamLease Digital. Without scaled-upskilling initiatives, enterprise ambitions risk being constrained.

AI adoption is expected to reshape job markets significantly, with up to 40 per cent of global roles expected to be impacted, particularly in IT services, customer experience, BFSI, and healthcare. Enterprises are prioritising AI-first learning models, digital literacy and cross-functional collaboration to ensure market-ready talent pipelines.

India's digital economy is accelerating rapidly, projected to grow twice as fast as the rest of the economy by FY2029-30, contributing nearly one-fifth of the nation's GDP. This expansion is generating millions of jobs across both technology and technology-enabled non-tech roles. Addressing the talent dynamics driving this transformation, TeamLease Digital, a leader in specialised staffing solutions, has released its latest report to offer an in-depth analysis of the skills driving India's digital future, salary benchmarks, sectoral trends, and the critical role of global capability centres (GCCs) in fueling demand for next-generation talent.

GCCs spearhead digital job creation and diversity gains

The continued expansion of India's digital economy is underpinned by the strategic role of GCCs as engines of employment and skills transformation. TeamLease Digital's report highlights that GCCs will contribute over 22-25 per cent of net new white-collar tech jobs in 2025, led by demand in AI and cloud computing. Of the 4.7 million new tech jobs projected by 2027, over 1.2 million will be generated by GCCs, particularly in GenAI and engineering R&D.

GCC hiring is expanding beyond metros, with 130,000–140,000 fresh graduates expected to be recruited in FY25; a move driven by outreach to tier-2 and tier-3 engineering campuses. Diversity is also gaining momentum, with women representing 40 per cent of the workforce in the top 20 GCCs, 1.5 times the industry average. By 2027, India is expected to host over 2,100 GCCs, employing 3 million professionals, with 800 new centres being established.

AI, Cloud, and Cybersecurity redefine salary benchmarks

Within GCCs, compensation trends are being reset by new-age roles. Generative AI Engineering and MLOps roles are setting new salary benchmarks, with senior professionals earning ₹58–60 LPA and annual growth exceeding 18 per cent. This surge reflects the shift toward AI-native operating models, where LLM integration, autonomous decision-making, and IP-led innovation are becoming standard. Demand is especially strong for specialised AI skills such as Prompt Engineering, LLM Safety and Tuning, AI Orchestration, Agent Design, Simulation Governance, and AI Compliance & Risk Ops—particularly across BFSI, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Cybersecurity and Data Engineering also remain foundational within GCCs, with average salaries expected to rise from ₹28 to ₹33.5 LPA (20 per cent growth) and ₹23 to ₹27 LPA (17 per cent growth), respectively, by FY27. At the senior level, Cybersecurity professionals can command ₹55 LPA, and Data Engineers Can Command up to ₹42 LPA, highlighting the premium for expertise in secure, compliant, and scalable data infrastructure. Cloud Computing roles are also advancing, with cloud salaries projected to rise from ₹24 to ₹28 LPA (17 per cent growth) by FY27 for GCC talent, and senior Cloud Architects earning up to ₹45 LPA.

Shifting to the IT Product & Services sector, similar momentum is seen in technology-driven roles, but with some distinct trends. Product Management is the fastest-growing skillset in the IT sector, with salaries projected to increase by 29 per cent, reaching ₹42 LPA for senior professionals by FY27. Cloud Computing roles are also in high demand, with IT sector salaries forecasted to grow from ₹31.5 to ₹37.5 LPA (19 per cent growth) over the same period. This strong upward movement reflects a sector-wide pivot toward cloud-native product delivery and AI-integrated platforms.

The IT Product and Services sector powers digital transformation and AI-driven job growth
India's IT Products and Services sector is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the accelerated adoption of Generative AI, cloud-native platforms, Site Reliability Engineering, and advanced cybersecurity. The industry is projected to see an 11 per cent growth in hiring in FY2025–26, with more than 150,000 fresher positions expected to open, reflecting the industry's continued reliance on new talent pipelines to sustain its expansion.

Among the fastest-growing roles, Product Management stands out, with senior professionals likely to command salaries of up to ₹42 LPA by FY2027, as organisations shift towards product ownership and customer-centric innovation. Cloud Computing roles remain critical, with salaries forecast to rise from ₹31.5 LPA in FY2025 to ₹37.5 LPA by FY2027—a growth of 19 per cent, underscoring the sector's pivot towards scalable cloud-native delivery models.

Meanwhile, Generative AI roles are gaining strong traction, with senior-level salaries increasing from ₹28 LPA to ₹33.5 LPA over FY2025–27, growing at a steady 10 per cent CAGR, which highlights their growing strategic importance in enterprise R&D and product development. Collectively, these shifts are positioning India's IT sector as a global innovation hub, expected to generate $300 billion in revenue by FY2026–27, supported by national initiatives such as the BharatGPT programme and the IndiaAI Mission, as well as India's expanding role in global R&D ecosystems.

Digital acceleration beyond the tech sector

As talent and compensation trends evolve within the core tech sectors, India's broader economy is experiencing digital acceleration across traditionally non-tech verticals. Technology roles in traditionally non-tech sectors are expected to rise at a 12 per cent CAGR (2025–28), driven by ERP modernisation, RPA, cloud migration, and cybersecurity investments. BFSI, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and telecom are emerging as major recruiters for AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and full-stack development talent.

Salary outlook in non-tech digital roles

With the rapid diffusion of digital capabilities into non-tech industries, the report identifies notable shifts in salary patterns and demand for roles.

In non-tech enterprises, roles in digital transformation are projected to grow from ₹16 LPA to ₹19.5 LPA from FY25 to FY27, while Data Analytics is forecasted to increase from ₹11 LPA to ₹13.5 LPA over the same period. Cloud Solutions and Cybersecurity remain the highest-paid functions at senior levels, with professionals having 8+ years of experience earning ₹30 LPA and ₹28 LPA, respectively. Conversely, Legacy Systems Maintenance exhibits complete salary stagnation, remaining flat at ₹12 LPA from FY25 to FY27, while IT Support demonstrates minimal growth, increasing from ₹10.5 LPA to ₹11 LPA over the three years, reflecting a shift toward cloud-native and outsourced service models.

City-based salary differentials

The report highlights clear salary differentials across city tiers, which are shaping workforce planning and distributed hiring strategies for employers nationwide. In metro cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, the demand for frontier technology roles continues to command a premium, with mid-level professionals in AI and Generative AI earning between ₹12 and ₹12.7 LPA on average, while senior professionals in areas such as AI and Cybersecurity are able to command ₹45 to ₹48 LPA, reflecting the premium placed on innovation-critical talent in high-demand hubs.

In comparison, Tier-1 cities like Pune and Gurgaon are emerging as strong alternatives to metros, with mid-level salaries ranging from ₹10 to ₹12 LPA, indicating near parity with their metropolitan counterparts. However, at the senior level, salaries in Tier-1 cities remain 20–30 per cent lower than metro benchmarks, offering cost efficiencies for employers without significantly compromising access to skilled talent. The differential becomes more pronounced in Tier-2 cities, including Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, and Coimbatore, where entry-level salaries remain largely uniform across geographies, ranging from ₹5.7 to ₹7.8 LPA, indicating that fresher pay has now achieved geographic parity. Senior-level roles in Tier-2 cities, however, are priced 30–40 per cent lower compared to metros, creating a compelling cost-arbitrage opportunity for enterprises that are increasingly adopting distributed delivery models to balance cost efficiency with access to niche regional talent pools.

Commenting on the report's findings, Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, said, "India's digital economy is at a pivotal juncture, with AI, Cloud, and Cybersecurity redefining the future of work. GCCs alone now contribute 22–25 per cent of net new white-collar tech jobs and account for 30–35 per cent of AI hiring nationwide. Generative AI Engineering and MLOps professionals are commanding premium salaries of ₹58–60 LPA for senior talent. The rise of GCCs from 2.16 million professionals today to 3 million by 2030, combined with diversity-first hiring, is accelerating innovation at an unprecedented pace. India's digital economy is projected to grow twice as fast as the country's overall economy and contribute one-fifth of GDP by 2029-2030, representing a global leadership opportunity, provided we address the 60 per cent talent gap in AI domains and 55–60 per cent demand-supply mismatch in cloud computing remain critical constraints."