BENGALURU, Feb. 23 (GeokHub) — Artificial intelligence is set to expand, not diminish, opportunities for India’s IT services industry, according to a senior executive at Wipro, pushing back against investor concerns that AI could disrupt the sector’s traditional outsourcing model.
The $283 billion Indian IT services industry has faced a market selloff in recent months, as investors worry that automation tools could reduce demand for labor-intensive software services.
However, Wipro’s Chief Strategist and Technology Officer Hari Shetty said the rapid adoption of AI represents a transformational growth opportunity.
“When you look at the entire gamut of things that’s possible, it really appears like a large opportunity for us,” Shetty said in an interview.
From Automation to Autonomous Enterprises
Shetty emphasized that current discussions focus too narrowly on task automation, overlooking what he described as a broader structural shift toward “autonomous enterprises.”
“What you’re seeing today is basically task automation,” he explained. “What we are really talking about is autonomous enterprise, which is a completely different ball game that will require IT services companies to work deeply with clients.”
He compared AI’s potential impact on the industry to transformative breakthroughs such as electricity or the internet, calling it “probably the single biggest opportunity” for the sector.
Job Creation and Skill Transformation
Citing estimates from the World Economic Forum, Shetty noted that AI could create approximately 170 million jobs globally while disrupting around 92 million roles.
He said India’s IT industry would see rising demand for skills including model training, data curation, and responsible AI governance.
“The primary differentiation here is people who know AI and people who do not know AI,” Shetty said, stressing the importance of AI literacy across the workforce.
Contrary to predictions that automation could hollow out the traditional staffing pyramid of IT firms, Shetty said Wipro continues to experience strong demand for younger engineers who are fluent in AI technologies.
Long-Term Growth Outlook
Shetty likened AI’s evolution to the cloud computing wave, which ultimately expanded the responsibilities and revenues of service providers rather than shrinking them.
He argued that companies increasingly need strategic partners capable of understanding domain-specific processes and guiding digital transformation toward more automated, intelligent operations.
“We clearly think AI is a dominant force, at least for the next decade to two decades, in terms of the kind of business that it will drive,” he said.
