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India’s tech story is no longer just about startups or outsourced software. It is now a larger, multi-layered growth model built on scale in IT services, the rise of AI and data-center infrastructure, deep digital public rails such as UPI, stronger manufacturing incentives, and a startup base that has crossed 200,000 DPIIT-recognized firms.
India’s technology industry is projected to reach $315 billion in FY26, up from $245 billion in FY23; exports are expected to reach around $246 billion in FY26; and the broader digital economy, measured by MeitY, was 11.74% of national income in 2022-23 and was projected to rise to 13.42% by 2024-25.
India raised $11.7 billion in FY26 and $7.2 billion in H1 2026 alone, with larger rounds clustering around AI, infrastructure, fintech and retail. Firms are producing at scale and are also building policy-backed compute, electronics, semiconductor, and logistics capacity.
Nasscom estimated India’s tech industry revenue at $245 billion in FY23, $254 billion in FY24, $282.6 billion in FY25 and $315 billion in FY26E. Roughly a 29% rise in four years. The workforce is projected at 5.95 million in FY26, up from about 5.43 million in FY24 and 5.8 million in FY25.
Exports remain the backbone. MeitY’s software-industry page says the IT-BPM industry is expected to reach $315 billion in FY26, including exports of around $246 billion. For FY25, MeitY/Nasscom put exports at about $224.4 billion. RBI’s software services survey also shows how concentrated this engine still is: in 2023-24, software and ITES export earnings were estimated at $217.4 billion, with the US accounting for 54.1% of the total. That makes India globally relevant but also exposed to US demand cycles.
A second layer is the domestic digital economy. MeitY’s digital-economy measurement report estimated India’s digital economy at 11.74% of national income in 2022-23, equivalent to about Rs. 31.64 lakh crore in GDP terms, and projected that share to rise to 13.42% by 2024-25. This is broader than the tech industry itself; it captures digitalization spreading into retail, finance, logistics and manufacturing.
A February 2026 PIB release said India had grown from fewer than 500 startups at the launch of Startup India to more than 200,000 DPIIT-recognized startups, with 2025 marking the highest-ever annual startup registrations.
The same release said Fund of Funds 1.0 had committed Rs. 10,000 crore to 145 AIFs, which together invested more than Rs. 25,500 crore in over 1,370 startups. That is now being extended through a new Rs. 10,000 crore Startup India FoF 2.0 focused on deep tech, innovative manufacturing, and early-growth firms.
Private capital has become more selective but bigger. Tracxn’s FY25-26 report said India raised $11.7 billion in FY26, ranking fourth globally, with 13 rounds above $100 million, 47 IPOs and 129 acquisitions. In H1 2026 alone, India raised $7.2 billion across 652 rounds. Just three deals, CRED, Nxtra and Neysa, accounted for $2.2 billion, or 31% of capital deployed.
Sectorally, the focus has shifted away from just consumer apps toward enterprise software, fintech and infrastructure. Tracxn says enterprise applications drew $3.6 billion in FY26, fintech $2.4 billion, and retail $2.4 billion. In H1 2026, Tracxn explicitly highlighted infrastructure and energy displacing consumer apps at the top, led by Nxtra, Neysa, Inox Clean Energy and Rapido.
India’s talent pipeline remains one of its strongest structural advantages. AISHE 2023-24 shows total higher-education enrolment at 4.5 crore, with STEM enrolment at 1,01,88,988. The same report shows 8.3 lakh undergraduate pass-outs in engineering and technology in 2023-24.
However, hiring is being rewritten by AI. Naukri’s JobSpeak said AI/ML roles continued to lead hiring in 2026, while ET reported GCC hiring was increasingly “capability-led,” with AI engineering, cloud and cyber roles driving expected IT hiring growth of 12-15%.
TeamLease Digital says freshers in AI and cloud can command Rs. 7-Rs. 8.5 lakh per annum, while AI, data and cybersecurity specialists may see 10-12% salary growth in 2026. In GCCs, senior AI and machine-learning roles are already paying Rs. 58-Rs. 60 lakh, versus roughly Rs. 12 lakh for legacy support roles.
The infrastructure behind India’s tech rise is now impossible to ignore. NPCI’s UPI product statistics show 22.7 billion transactions in June 2026 alone, worth Rs. 28.9 lakh crore.
The DPDP Rules, 2025 fully operationalized India’s digital personal data regime in November 2025. On the industrial side, PIB said the large-scale electronics PLI had, by February 2026, delivered Rs. 17,519 crore of investment, Rs. 11,01,813 crore of production, Rs. 6,20,974 crore of exports and 1,85,175 direct jobs.
Semiconductor policy has moved from slogan to project pipeline too: PIB said 10 projects with a total investment of Rs. 1.60 lakh crore had been approved under the semiconductor mission by December 2025.
India’s listed tech market still rests on the large IT services firms, but the composition is widening around ER&D, enterprise software and digital infrastructure.
TCS remains the symbol of India’s scale advantage: its FY26 annual report highlighted $30 billion in revenue, annualised AI revenue of $2.3 billion and total contract value of $40.7 billion. Infosys crossed $20 billion in FY26 revenue, with reported annual revenue of Rs. 1,78,650 crore. HCLTech reported FY26 revenue of $14.7 billion and has now moved to invest Rs. 3,500 crore in AI-focused data centres, signaling how the large services firms are trying to capture the infrastructure layer of the AI cycle.
Among newer firms, CRED’s $900 million Meta-led round valued it at $4.5 billion; Reuters said it had 17 million monthly users, handled more than 40% of India’s credit-card payments and managed loan assets of $2.5 billion.
Sarvam has become India’s most important sovereign-AI case, reaching a $1.5 billion valuation after a $234 million first close. Skyroot, now valued at $1.1 billion after a $60 million round, turned that capital into a national milestone with India’s first private orbital rocket launch in July.
Reuters reported that TCS’s layoffs in 2025 helped crystallize fears that up to 500,000 mid-career jobs across the IT sector could be vulnerable over the next few years if reskilling lags.
At the capital level, Tracxn says first-time funded firms fell 31% in H1 2026, unique institutional investors declined sharply from their 2024 peak, and international investor count dropped to 145 from 294 at the H1 2024 peak.
For policymakers, the implication is clear: India needs more domestic risk capital, more patient deep-tech finance, and faster implementation of compute, data and semiconductor infrastructure.
The best opportunities are increasingly in the enablers of India’s next tech layer: enterprise software, AI infrastructure, data centres, electronics, space, industrial logistics and high-quality public-market IT names that can move up the stack.
