AI-related hiring outpaces job losses in India, says Nomura report

India is emerging as a key test case for the impact of artificial intelligence on employment.

AI-related hiring is exceeding job losses so far, according to a report by Nomura Holdings.

The report described India as "ground zero" for assessing AI's effect on jobs, citing the country's large workforce and its role as a global outsourcing hub.

Analysing 69 reported instances across Asia between 2022 and August 2026, Nomura found that India recorded 83,100 AI-related hires compared with 31,921 layoffs and attrition linked to AI adoption.

According to the report, most job losses involved support teams replaced by chatbots, while the majority of new hiring was in information technology services, where companies attributed recruitment to growing demand for AI-related skills.

The report said AI is creating a two-tier labour market in countries such as India and South Korea by reducing demand for entry-level workers while increasing demand for experienced professionals with stronger business understanding.

Across Asia, AI-related hiring totalled 130,758 jobs during the study period, with more than 90 per cent of the positions in the technology sector. In comparison, 60,654 jobs were lost, about 60 per cent of them in financial services.

Nomura said the findings run counter to the narrative that AI is leading to widespread job losses, suggesting that job creation has so far exceeded displacement during the early stages of AI adoption.

However, the report noted that the overall figures mask unequal effects in the labour market, as workers displaced by AI are unlikely to transition into specialised AI engineering roles.