Demand for Agentic AI skills surges; supply falls short by over 50 pc: Report
Mumbai: Agentic AI and specialised GenAI roles are projected to grow 35-40 per cent annually while the demand-supply gap remains above 50 per cent, a report said on Friday.
Agentic AI is an advanced form of artificial intelligence focused on autonomous decision-making and action.
Based on an analysis of more than 28,000 job postings, the report shows that Agentic AI roles are now firmly embedded within enterprise hiring, supported by the shift from GenAI pilots to production-grade autonomous workflows.
India's Agentic AI market, valued at approximately USD 276 million in 2024, is projected to reach nearly USD 3.5 billion by 2030, supported by automation modernisation and enterprise adoption.
The Quess Corp report - "Is India's Workforce Ready for the Agentic AI Era?" - is based on secondary research.
The report revealed that salary premiums continued to be strongest in senior architecture and safety positions, ranging between 20 per cent and 28 per cent.
Internal mobility is expected to fill 30-35 per cent of advanced AI roles, supported by structured AI training programmes across 70-75 per cent of GCCs and large enterprises, while remote roles are projected to account for 15-20 per cent of total advanced AI hiring.
Further, it revealed that Global Capability Centres account for 54 per cent of total Agentic AI hiring demand, reflecting the concentration of agent platform engineering, orchestration, safety, and governance within GCC ecosystems.
Tech and SaaS firms show 68 per cent adoption of Agentic AI by embedding agents into products and customer workflows, said the report.
Mid-senior professionals represent over 70 per cent of Agentic AI hiring while early-career hiring accounts for about 20 per cent with leadership roles continuing to expand in governance, safety and product strategy.
It also revealed that tool-calling and orchestration appear in 72 per cent of job descriptions and Retrieval-Augmented Generation tool (RAG + Tool) capabilities are required in 63 per cent of roles.
Framework exposure to LangGraph, AutoGen and CrewAI has reached 43 per cent, showing a shift from prompt writing to workflow-based agent development while observability appears in 19 per cent of roles and runtime guardrails and safety appear in 8 per cent.
Several roles that were largely absent three years ago are now in demand, including AI Orchestration Engineers, Agent Behaviour Analysts, Agent Safety and Governance Specialists, Vector Database Architects, Agent Lifecycle Managers and Agentic AI Product Managers.
Talking about geographies, the report revealed that Bengaluru and Hyderabad together accounted for nearly 62 per cent of Agentic AI hiring, while NCR, Pune and Chennai continue to expand as centres for governance, deployment and workflow management.
Tier II cities such as Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad now contribute close to 10 per cent of total hiring, it said.
"For technology professionals in India, Agentic AI is not just a new skill set, but a new career direction. The growing demand for ownership, safety and system responsibility shows that these roles are becoming long-term enterprise careers rather than short-term innovation projects.
"This shift opens up opportunities for Indian talent to move closer to core business decision-making and global technology ownership. It also signals that India's AI workforce is entering a phase defined by responsibility, trust and long-term value creation," Quess Corp CEO of IT Staffing Kapil Joshi added.
Agentic AI is an advanced form of artificial intelligence focused on autonomous decision-making and action.
Based on an analysis of more than 28,000 job postings, the report shows that Agentic AI roles are now firmly embedded within enterprise hiring, supported by the shift from GenAI pilots to production-grade autonomous workflows.
India's Agentic AI market, valued at approximately USD 276 million in 2024, is projected to reach nearly USD 3.5 billion by 2030, supported by automation modernisation and enterprise adoption.
The Quess Corp report - "Is India's Workforce Ready for the Agentic AI Era?" - is based on secondary research.
The report revealed that salary premiums continued to be strongest in senior architecture and safety positions, ranging between 20 per cent and 28 per cent.
Internal mobility is expected to fill 30-35 per cent of advanced AI roles, supported by structured AI training programmes across 70-75 per cent of GCCs and large enterprises, while remote roles are projected to account for 15-20 per cent of total advanced AI hiring.
Further, it revealed that Global Capability Centres account for 54 per cent of total Agentic AI hiring demand, reflecting the concentration of agent platform engineering, orchestration, safety, and governance within GCC ecosystems.
Tech and SaaS firms show 68 per cent adoption of Agentic AI by embedding agents into products and customer workflows, said the report.
Mid-senior professionals represent over 70 per cent of Agentic AI hiring while early-career hiring accounts for about 20 per cent with leadership roles continuing to expand in governance, safety and product strategy.
It also revealed that tool-calling and orchestration appear in 72 per cent of job descriptions and Retrieval-Augmented Generation tool (RAG + Tool) capabilities are required in 63 per cent of roles.
Framework exposure to LangGraph, AutoGen and CrewAI has reached 43 per cent, showing a shift from prompt writing to workflow-based agent development while observability appears in 19 per cent of roles and runtime guardrails and safety appear in 8 per cent.
Several roles that were largely absent three years ago are now in demand, including AI Orchestration Engineers, Agent Behaviour Analysts, Agent Safety and Governance Specialists, Vector Database Architects, Agent Lifecycle Managers and Agentic AI Product Managers.
Talking about geographies, the report revealed that Bengaluru and Hyderabad together accounted for nearly 62 per cent of Agentic AI hiring, while NCR, Pune and Chennai continue to expand as centres for governance, deployment and workflow management.
Tier II cities such as Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad now contribute close to 10 per cent of total hiring, it said.
"For technology professionals in India, Agentic AI is not just a new skill set, but a new career direction. The growing demand for ownership, safety and system responsibility shows that these roles are becoming long-term enterprise careers rather than short-term innovation projects.
"This shift opens up opportunities for Indian talent to move closer to core business decision-making and global technology ownership. It also signals that India's AI workforce is entering a phase defined by responsibility, trust and long-term value creation," Quess Corp CEO of IT Staffing Kapil Joshi added.
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