The Indian IT industry, once an emblem of upward mobility and economic aspiration, is now being rapidly reshaped by artificial intelligence. Job losses across major firms are not isolated events ~ they represent a structural shift in the very nature of whitecollar employment in India. The middle and senior managerial roles that once formed the backbone of urban affluence are being hollowed out by automation and efficiency-led restructuring. India’s software services sector, which contributed massively to GDP and urban consumption growth, thrived on the availability of cheap, skilled labour and predictable outsourcing demand from Western clients. Today, those fundamentals are no longer secure. AI is automating routine coding, testing, and back-end processes faster than companies can reskill their workforce. In the face of this upheaval, reskilling programmes, however well-intentioned, are lagging behind the scale of displacement.

The speed at which AI is........

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