Indian IT faces fresh test as AI tools gain ground

The speed at which Indian IT firms reshape delivery and pricing models will determine how much value they retain in the next phase of enterprise technology spending, as new AI tools reignite investor concerns that automation could erode traditional services revenue streams.

The renewed anxiety followed a sharp selloff in global software stocks last week after Anthropic announced legal plug-ins for its AI assistant, fuelling fears that tasks such as documentation, legal research and compliance — work that underpins large outsourcing contracts — could increasingly be handled by autonomous systems. More than $300 billion was wiped off global software valuations, a move analysts said was an overreaction but one that exposed underlying unease around the durability of the services-led model.