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Global technology companies have laid off more than 39,000 employees over the past six months, with firms including Meta, Oracle, Dell, Cognizant, and Cloudflare reducing their workforces amid growing economic and technological pressures. According to data from TrueUp, the wave of job cuts reflects a broader transformation across the global tech sector as organisations increasingly streamline operations.

Meanwhile, India’s $300-billion information technology industry is undergoing a significant transition of its own. Active tech job openings in the country have fallen from 108,000 to 93,000 in the past month, a 14% decline and the steepest month-on-month drop recorded over the last year, noted a report by staffing firm Xpheno.

The major reason behind this huge uprising in layoffs is due to the rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence in technical workspaces, as entry-level coding and mid-level management jobs are being automated by AI, resulting in massive restructuring in companies.

Along with this, issues with visas, particularly in the United States of America, with the strict updated policy for H1B visas, have led companies in America to be hesitant in retaining immigrant workers as permanent employees. As a result, a huge number of Indian workers have been laid off and are returning to India, which already has a dire employment market.

As an accumulation of all these factors, a growing concern regarding the future employment of tech professionals has emerged. Despite these challenges, India’s rapidly expanding Global Capability Centres (GCC) ecosystem is creating new opportunities for people with specialised expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing, and systems architecture. As demand shifts towards specialised digital skills, this period of uncertainty may not signal the end of opportunities for technical professionals, but rather the beginning of a new chapter of reinvention and growth.

According to a recent survey by Mercer, 99% of CEOs expect AI-driven layoffs in the short term. The initial stage has started with the massive layoffs being conducted by global tech companies, such as Oracle and Meta. However, this current wave of layoffs reflects a reallocation of talent rather than the disappearance of technological jobs altogether. Employers are increasingly prioritising specialised expertise over generalist technology roles.

Meanwhile, this shift in demand is creating new opportunities in unexpected places, particularly within India’s rapidly growing GCC ecosystem. While GCCs were primarily viewed as offshore sub-branches of big corporations, they are now considered high-value units that drive innovation, product development, and business transformation for multinational organisations. This has led to new roles and jobs being created in GCC workspaces.

India’s GCC sector has emerged as one of the country’s strongest employment engines for skilled technology professionals. Recent research indicated that India is ranked #1 in AI hiring intensity among GCC markets globally. The evolution of GCC operations beyond traditional business processes into high-value technology functions has created massive demand for professionals capable of building AI-powered solutions, managing cloud infrastructure, developing digital products, and extracting business insights from data. 

The important part of this aspect is that many of the skills being prioritised by GCCs closely align with the expertise possessed by professionals affected by recent layoffs. The GCC Trends 2026 report suggests that software engineers, product managers, and data analysts remain highly sought after as GCCs accelerate their digital transformation initiatives.

For technical professionals navigating an uncertain employment market, this presents an opportunity to rethink career trajectories rather than view layoffs as a setback. The ability to adapt, upskill, and align with emerging industry requirements will increasingly determine long-term career success. Investing in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, and data engineering can help professionals position themselves for the next wave of growth.

The technology industry has always been defined by constant evolution, and the current AI period is no exception. While major news headlines focus on workforce reductions at some of the world’s largest technical companies, they only tell part of the story. Beneath the surface, new opportunities are emerging as organisations reshape their operating models and invest in new technologies that will define the future.