NEW DELHI: As the share prices of Indian IT companies continue to decline amid fears of artificial intelligence-led disruption, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw has asked companies to reskill and upskill their existing talent.
Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the minister said the government is working closely with industry and academia to manage the transition to AI-driven technologies.
"The IT industry is one of the biggest trends that India has. And whenever any technology transition happens, this transition has to be managed jointly by the industry, academia and government. So right now, we are working with the industry and academia on three fronts," he said.
The minister suggested: one, reskilling and upskilling the existing talent; two, creating a new talent pipeline; and three, making sure that the coming generations are ready for this new technology.
As discussions around AI intensify, shares of Indian IT companies extended their decline on February 16 and 17 amid concerns about AI-led disruption in the sector. After falling around 13 percent in 2025, the index has declined about 15 percent so far in 2026.
Investor concerns also grew following Anthropic’s launch of a legal AI tool for its Claude chatbot, raising fears of increased competition for software companies.