83,100 AI Hires vs. 31,921 Layoffs: India Is Winning the AI Transition — For Now.

A Nomura report tracking India's labor market from 2022 through August 2026 found 83,100 AI-related hires against 31,921 AI-related layoffs and attrition over the same period — hiring outpacing job losses by more than two to one. It's one of the more reassuring India-specific data points in the current AI-and-jobs debate, and it's genuinely worth taking seriously.

Why "for now" is the operative phrase

A four-and-a-half-year cumulative snapshot tells you the trend has been positive so far. It doesn't tell you the trend is guaranteed to continue, and other data collected in the same window points the other way on specific segments — EY's finding of a 20–25% cut in entry-level IT hiring, and NASSCOM's own observation that headcount growth (2.3%) is running well behind revenue growth (6.1%), both describe the same period Nomura is measuring.

How to read a positive national number correctly

• A net-positive national number can still contain a net-negative outcome for a specific segment — entry-level roles, for instance.
• Early-stage AI adoption often adds AI-specific hires faster than it removes existing roles; that ratio can shift as AI tools mature and existing roles become easier to automate rather than augment.
• "India is winning the transition" is a statement about the country in aggregate. It says nothing about whether any specific individual is personally positioned to benefit from it.

A good national number is not a personal guarantee. It's a description of the average — and averages have a wide spread underneath them.

The way forward

Don't take comfort in the aggregate number as a substitute for your own position within it. The way to make sure you're part of the 83,100 rather than the 31,921 is the same regardless of which way the national trend eventually bends: build real, demonstrable AI capability now, while the ratio is still favorable.