As AI automates routine tasks, Nasscom flags decline in deep engineering skills

India risks building a technology workforce that is merely AI-reliant rather than truly AI-native if the industry and academia fail to preserve deep engineering expertise, IT industry body Nasscom has warned.

While over 90 per cent of the country's early-career tech professionals are already adopting artificial intelligence, the apex industry body cautioned that the decline of routine coding work must not lead to a drop in fundamental technical skills.

“India is uniquely positioned to emerge as a global hub for AI-native technology talent. It is important to keep in mind that AI skills penetration is not the same as being AI-native...India risks scaling a workforce that is AI-reliant rather than AI-native.

"Academia must strengthen fundamentals, while industry must redesign onboarding and mentorship to ensure that the decline of routine work does not lead to a decline in deep engineering expertise,” Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Nasscom, said.

Nasscom on Tuesday launched the inaugural edition of its report, "The State of AI-Native Talent in India," which introduces a structured industry benchmark for assessing AI capabilities among early-career tech professionals with up to 3 years of experience, including final-year engineering students.

According to the study, while roughly two-thirds of India’s young workforce are “AI-proficient”, only 23 per cent qualify as “AI-native”.

However, the report highlighted significant headroom to deepen this talent base by strengthening engineering judgement and technical depth.

The study pointed out that while AI demonstrably improves productivity and learning speed, it is also automating the routine tasks through which junior engineers traditionally built their foundational knowledge.

Consequently, organisations and educational institutions will need to "deliberately recreate opportunities" for engineers to develop independent judgment and orchestration skills that were previously gained through hands-on experience, Nasscom said.

To address this gap, Nasscom urged academia and industry to move beyond traditional coding instruction.

“Academia must move beyond coding to strengthen engineering judgment, domain learning and reimagine assessment methods, while industry must redesign to build foundational capabilities, deepen mentorship, create opportunities for independent problem-solving, embed AI verification into workflows and continuously upskill early-career talent.”

For the IT industry, the transition will require rethinking long-establishedoperating models. Hiring assessments must shift from testing basic coding knowledge to evaluating comprehensive AI-native capabilities, the industry body said.

Furthermore, companies must redesign capability building to include AI-augmented foundational learning, simulation-based exercises, and multi-layered mentorship to encourage independent problem-solving among early-career talent.