Tech services to remain relevant in AI era: Nasscom US CEO Forum

Nasscom says AI will transform-not replace-Indian IT services, with enterprise AI adoption expected to create a $300-400 billion global opportunity by 2030

The technology services sector in India will continue to remain relevant to global enterprises transformation in the artificial intelligence (AI) era, the Nasscom US CEO Forum said, even though there will be changes in how services are delivered and scaled up. 

Chief executive officers of Indian technology companies, who attended the discussion, also said AI will expand the addressable market opportunity across enterprise modernisation, data, AI governance and intelligent operations. 

Nearly 25 per cent of technology services companies have moved AI experiments into production. The industry is generating about $10-12 billion in AI services revenue, with more than 2 million professionals skilled in AI and 100,000-200,000 trained in advanced AI capabilities. Around 85 per cent technology service providers now have agentic AI platforms. 

The discussion, held at the Consulate General of India in New York City and also attended by governor Matt Meyer and secretary Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, also touched upon the fact that AI on technology services cannot be assessed only through the lens of task automation. 

“The next phase of AI is not about experimentation alone. Enterprises now need to convert AI capability into production value. That requires data readiness, workflow redesign, secure deployment, governance and change management. These are areas where Indian technology services companies have deep experience and a strong opportunity to lead,” Ravi Kumar, CEO, Cogniznt and chairman of Nasscom US CEO Forum, said. 

While AI will bring productivity gains and compress parts of standardised, repeatable work, it will also expand demand for technology orchestration, data readiness, application modernisation, AI governance, cybersecurity, agent management and industry specific solutions. 

Nasscom president Rajesh Nambiar said companies will continue to focus on their core businesses and will need specialist partners to deploy and scale AI responsibly. 

“As AI moves into production, enterprises will have to bring together models, applications, data platforms, cloud environments, cybersecurity controls, regulatory requirements and industry systems into a reliable operating model. The value of IT services will increasingly lie in making these systems work together securely, efficiently and at scale.” 

The industry has pegged this to be a $300-400 billion new opportunity in AI services by 2030 across data for AI, legacy modernisation, agentic workflows, AI operations, cybersecurity and AI governance. Business process services will also move from transaction execution to intelligence operations, with AI automating routine work and human effort shifting towards supervision, exception handling, analytics, decision support and quality assurance.