IT fresher hiring to rise to 2.1 lakh in FY27: AI, data and cloud skills lead

5 Nov 2026 · By Amol Pagar

Good news for the 2026 and 2027 batches. Fresher hiring in India's IT and business process management (IT-BPM) sector is expected to grow to about 2.1 lakh in FY27, up from about 1.75 lakh in FY26. The forecast comes from HAN Digital's IT-BPM Graduate Hiring Outlook 2027, released in late October 2026.

For context, the same sector hired about 4 lakh freshers in FY22, so hiring is still well below its peak. But after two slow years, the direction has turned upward.

Which skills are in demand

The report and news coverage point to the same areas again and again:

Artificial intelligence and machine learning, including model operations and AI testing
Data engineering and analytics
Cybersecurity
Cloud and enterprise technology engineering

Employers also look for proof that you can actually build things: GitHub projects, internships with real deliverables, cloud certifications and hackathon results. Python, statistics and cloud basics come up most often.

Pay: a big gap between general and specialised roles

Most entry-level roles across the wider IT-enabled services sector still pay around ₹3–4 lakh a year. Some specialised engineering roles at leading IT services firms are reported to pay ₹12–22 lakh. So the same degree can lead to very different starting salaries depending on your skills.

Where the jobs are

Bengaluru accounts for about 25% of fresher onboarding, followed by Delhi-NCR (17%), Hyderabad (16%) and Chennai (15%). Tier-2 and tier-3 cities are growing fast, with hiring there reported up about 35% year on year. Cities named include Coimbatore, Jaipur, Kochi, Indore, Ahmedabad and Visakhapatnam.

When to apply

Campus and off-campus drives usually run from November to January. If you are in your final year or a recent graduate, the next three months matter most.

What this means for you

Pick one in-demand skill and show it. One solid project in data, cloud or AI on GitHub helps more than a long list of course names.
Prepare now, not after the drive is announced. Aptitude, one programming language and core CS basics are tested almost everywhere.
Look beyond the big metros. Tier-2 city offices are hiring more freshers than before.
Apply only through official company career pages and never pay anyone for a job.

Browse open fresher jobs, data and AI jobs, cybersecurity jobs and jobs in Bengaluru on Daily IT Jobs. Every listing links to the company's official page.

Sources: SightsIn Plus (24 Oct 2026) and CareerIndia (29 Oct 2026), reporting HAN Digital's IT-BPM Graduate Hiring Outlook 2027.