India Is Hiring More AI Talent Than It Is Losing, Says Nomura

For years, the biggest fear around artificial intelligence has been job loss. As companies automate customer support, coding, research and other repetitive tasks, many expected AI adoption to create a wave of layoffs. But India’s latest numbers tell a more complicated story.

According to a Nomura report, India recorded 83,100 AI-related hires compared with 31,921 layoffs and attrition during the period studied. That means AI-linked hiring has so far been significantly higher than job losses in the country.

The number is important, but the bigger story is what these new jobs look like and who is actually benefiting from them.

India Is Becoming a Major AI Hiring Hub

Nomura describes India as a key test case for understanding AI’s impact on employment because of the country’s massive technology and business-services workforce. The report analysed 69 AI-related employment cases across Asia, with most examples dating from 2022 through August 2026.

India recorded the largest absolute impact among the markets studied. Most of the reported AI-related layoffs involved support teams being replaced or reduced through chatbots, while many of the new positions were created for IT-services graduates as companies increased their AI capabilities. Across Asia, AI-related hiring reached 130,758 jobs, while around 60,654 jobs were lost during the period. More than 90% of the new positions were in technology, showing just how strongly AI adoption is concentrated around tech-related work.

AI Isn’t Simply Replacing Workers

The headline “AI is creating more jobs than it destroys” sounds positive, but there is an important catch.

The jobs being created are not necessarily the same jobs that are disappearing. Companies may reduce entry-level support roles while hiring AI engineers, data specialists, automation experts and experienced technology professionals. Nomura says AI adoption is creating a two-tier labour market, with demand weakening for some entry-level positions while experienced workers with stronger business and technical understanding become more valuable.

That creates a difficult transition. A customer-support employee displaced by an AI chatbot cannot automatically move into an AI engineering role. Nomura specifically warns that headline employment numbers can hide this “distributional pain” because displaced workers do not necessarily transition into the new AI jobs being created.

So the real story isn’t simply jobs versus layoffs. It’s old skills versus new skills.

What This Means for Startup Founders

For founders, this shift creates an interesting opportunity. AI-native companies can now build smaller teams while automating repetitive tasks that previously required significant human resources. At the same time, companies need people who can integrate AI into products, operations and decision-making. That changes how startups should approach hiring.

Instead of asking only how many people a business needs, founders can ask which tasks should be handled by people and which can be automated. A smaller team with strong AI capabilities could potentially achieve what required a much larger team a few years ago. It also creates opportunities for startups building products around AI training, workforce upskilling, recruitment, automation and enterprise AI adoption. The demand isn’t only for AI models. It is increasingly for tools that help businesses actually use those models.

The AI Jobs Boom Comes With a Warning

India’s AI hiring numbers challenge the idea that artificial intelligence is simply a job-destroying technology. For now, companies are creating significant numbers of AI-linked positions alongside the roles being eliminated.

But founders and workers should not interpret this as a guarantee that everyone will benefit. The International Labour Organization’s 2026 research also examines how generative AI is reshaping tasks, employment patterns, productivity and workplace organization, reinforcing the idea that AI is changing the structure of work rather than producing one simple outcome.

For startups, the message is clear: AI capability is becoming part of the workforce itself. The companies that learn how to combine human expertise with AI effectively may have an advantage over those simply trying to replace people with software.

India’s AI employment story is therefore not just about how many jobs AI creates or destroys. It is about which skills become valuable next.

The global impact of generative AI is also changing how companies think about work. The International Labour Organization’s research on generative AI and jobs looks at how AI could change tasks and occupations across different industries.