Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, and especially over the past year, we’ve witnessed the rapid evolution of AI agents—and it's sending shockwes through the global IT services industry.
Some Indian IT companies are wide awake, realizing the disruptive potential of this shift. Others, unfortunately, are still asleep—and if they continue sleeping, they may wake up one day to find their business no longer exists.
From Human-Driven to Autonomous Software DevelopmentWe are now entering an era of Autonomous Software Development, much like dark factories in manufacturing—where robots operate in complete automation without the need for lights or humans.
In the 1990s, Indian IT companies became global leaders by slashing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by 40–50%, offering offshore services at significantly lower costs. The value proposition was simple: cheaper talent, stable applications, and continuous enhancements.
Even today, the cost of software development in India remains 50–60% lower than in countries like the U.S.
But here's the disruption: What if AI agents could now replicate the intelligence of entire software teams?
Meet Your New Team: The AI AgentsImagine this:
Requirement AI Agent Design AI Agent UI/UX AI Agent Front-End & Back-End Dev AI Agents DB, QA, DevOps, PM, Support, and Documentation AI Agents
Each one handles a specific role across the software lifecycle—coordinated, scalable, and tireless.
And that’s just the beginning.
We now could he AI agents for Applications Maintenance and Production Support:
L1/L2 Support Monitoring AI Agent Incident AI Agent Auto-Fix AI Agent SLA AI Agent Change AI Agent Capacity Planning AI Agent
Similarly, AI agents can be built for other services such as Cloud ERP implementation, Infrastructure Management, Integrated Engineering, Enterprise Consulting Services, and more."Soon, we’ll even see AI agent orchestrators coordinating entire teams of these digital workers.
Recommended by LinkedIn The Agentic Enterprise Arrives Patrick Phillips 1 month ago AI Agents vs RPA: What Enterprises Are Really Choosing Appinventiv 4 months ago From Scripted Bots to Strategic Minds: The Evolution… Tom Mathews 1 month agoWhat This Means for Indian IT Services Companies A traditional IT services company with 20,000 employees might generate $1 billion/year. With AI agents, a similar revenue could be achieved with just 8,000 people—a 60% reduction in human resources for the same top line (this is only a prediction now)
In CRUD-based enterprise apps, 80% of the development effort could be automated. Even for complex systems like ERP or CRM, 30–50% of the work could be AI-driven. These are not fantasies—they're educated estimates based on emerging use cases.
But here’s the real challenge:
Most Indian IT companies are services-centric and quarterly-revenue focused. They're not built to innovate or build platforms.They risk becoming irrelevant without investing in R&D, AI agent platforms, and continuous innovation.
The New Outsourcing Model: “Best AI Agents at the Best Price”The old outsourcing model is changing. It’s no longer about which country has cheaper human talent but which country has the most potent and intelligent AI agents.
The definition of outsourcing is shifting to:
“Who can deliver faster, cheaper, higher-quality services—using digital workers, that is AI Agents?” What Needs to Happen Now?Indian IT companies must invest aggressively in building world-class AI agents and agent orchestrators. The focus should be on long-term R&D and AI Agentic product/platform development. The goal must be to create millions of digital workers (AI Agents) that are smarter, faster, and globally competitive.
Otherwise, India risks losing its outsourcing edge to countries that are faster at adopting AI-driven service delivery.
Is India ready to build premium AI agents at an affordable price and deploy digital workers in place of human workers—while still maintaining its leadership in outsourcing? This will depend on the strategies and investments of Indian IT majors.Please share your thoughts.
VSR