Nasscom warns AI is squeezing entry-level IT jobs: what freshers should do now

10 Nov 2026 · By Amol Pagar

Entry-level IT jobs are changing fast. In an interview with Nikkei Asia published on 7 November 2026, Nasscom president Rajesh Nambiar said fresh engineering graduates could find it harder to get tech jobs, because AI is now automating basic coding and software testing, the tasks freshers have traditionally been hired to do.

The numbers behind the warning

India's tech industry is expected to employ about 6 million people directly in FY26.
Net hiring for the year is about 1,35,000 new jobs, growth of around 2.3%.
About 26 lakh students were enrolled in engineering and technology programmes across 5,903 institutions in the year to March 2026.

So the industry is still adding jobs, but slowly, while the number of graduates entering the market each year is very large.

What Nasscom is doing about it

Nasscom is working with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and other agencies on a joint AI curriculum for undergraduate programmes. Nambiar expects approval to take about six months. His concern is that graduates may finish college with skills that are already out of date.

What this means for you

This is not a reason to panic. Companies still hire freshers, but they increasingly want freshers who can do more than routine coding.

Learn to work with AI tools, not against them. Use AI coding assistants for practice, but make sure you can explain and debug every line yourself. Interviewers test exactly this.
Go one level deeper than "basic coding". Data structures, system design basics, SQL and debugging are harder to automate and are tested in most interviews.
Add one in-demand skill: cloud (AWS or Azure), data engineering, cybersecurity or AI/ML. One solid project on GitHub matters more than many certificates.
Prepare for interviews properly. Practise explaining your projects and core concepts clearly. That is what separates candidates when there are fewer seats.
Apply only through official company career pages.

Browse open fresher jobs, data and AI jobs and DevOps and cloud jobs on Daily IT Jobs. Every listing links to the company's official page and includes interview preparation tips.

Sources: AI Weekly, summarising Nikkei Asia's interview with Rajesh Nambiar (7 Nov 2026) and Business Today on Nasscom's FY26 hiring projection.