AI will redefine, augment India's technology services industry’s role: Nasscom

Amidst rising concerns over advanced artificial intelligence (AI) disrupting India's technology services sector, at a time when new tools like Anthropic's Claude Cowork, designed to automate diverse software functions, the IT industry body, Nasscom has dismissed these concerns and noted that the rise of AI will redefine and augment the industry's role.

The Indian IT stocks are witnessing continued selling pressure after the new AI models threatened to disrupt traditional models. The NIFTY IT index fell nearly 10% in three trading sessions, after the launch of Claude cowork models.

Further, Indian technology services companies work closely with global enterprises that operate complex technology environments, with interconnected systems and fragmented data.

Nasscom argued that AI requires careful coordination with humans-in-the-loop, who possess deep industry knowledge and understand specific business contexts, to create business value. It added that in large enterprises, AI is unlikely to be adopted as a simple 'out-of-the-box' solution. Instead, the sector is seeing a shift where technology service providers act as essential orchestrators for the transition from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment.

In order to stay ahead of the curve, the industry body highlighted that the Indian tech firms have already begun ‘reinventing’ themselves, and the body has identified several emerging growth areas for the sector, fuelled by AI, including legacy system modernisation, AI-ready data foundations, and the deployment of intelligent agents across enterprise functions.

It also pointed that as enterprise AI adoption moves from experimentation to large-scale deployment, the technology services companies will play a critical role in enabling this transition. It noted that these firms are well-positioned to build customised solutions that drive measurable returns on AI investments.