# AI Hiring Surges While IT Jobs Decline in India > Source: > Published: 2026-07-04 05:26:58+00:00 AI-related hiring in India's IT sector rose **16%** year-on-year in June 2026 while overall IT job postings fell **3%**, according to Naukri's monthly JobSpeak report covering more than 150,000 employers. Across 14 industries beyond IT, AI and machine-learning roles grew **25%**, with insurance and consumer goods posting the sharpest gains. For practitioners, the divergence signals hiring demand concentrating on senior, specialized talent such as ML engineers and MLOps staff even as generalist IT recruitment softens. Info Edge CEO **Hitesh Oberoi** said the split shows where companies keep investing as AI becomes a core capability. Reuters notes Tata Consultancy Services separately flagged slower IT hiring and a shift toward blending staff with AI agents, after cutting more than 12,000 jobs last July.