AI’s positives outweigh human and climate impact: NASSCOM

Positive outcomes of AI on employment will outweigh the adverse human and climate impact that it might have, said Rajesh Nambiar, President of NASSCOM. 

Addressing concerns of the adverse human and climate impact of AI, the president of NASSCOM said that the job creation aspect of AI should outweigh such impacts.

“There are clearly issues around conditions of the labour. The much larger part of the story is that it is creating employment at an unprecedented scale and for people who otherwise could not have been employed across a whole range of countries, including India but not including Africa and other parts of the world as well,” said Mr. Nambiar, President of NASSCOM while briefing the media on Tuesday (February 24, 2026) at the annual summit of the industry body.

The comments became important after reports emerged of women in rural India being subject to work that left them with mental trauma in the process of training AI to make it safe for the users. Mr Nambiar, however, maintained that responsible AI was part of the industry body’s considerations. 

On worries regarding the climate impact of data centres, NASSCOM said that the improvement in human conditions as an outcome of AI outweighs the adversarial climate impact. “We have to see the human condition improving versus some of the planetary impacts it may have,” said Srikanth Velamakanni , Vice Chairperson of NASSCOM. 

The industry body released statistics on the projections of the revenue from the IT industry as part of its strategic review. According to the report, India’s Information Technology (IT) industry revenue may improve 6% to $300 billion in calendar year 2026, from $297 billion in the year ago period, according to data from NASSCOM.

On the effects of AI on hiring, NASSCOM assured that Artificial Intelligence would continue to be a net hirer, but the growth rate of new hiring grew at a slower rate of 2.23%, bringing in 1.33 lakh employees in 2026, slightly lower than the 1.35 lakh employees in the year ago period.

While NASSCOM is bullish on the employment effects of AI, the concerns regarding the AI disruption are reflected in global markets and by extension, the Indian stock markets.

Nifty IT fell nearly 4%, triggering the benchmark Nifty 50 declining 1.1%. “The Nifty IT Index extended its losing streak to a fifth consecutive session, plunging nearly 5%. Investor sentiment has been rocked by persistent concerns over AI-led disruption,” said Nandish Shah, Vice President of HDFC Securities. Markets reacted to Anthropic’s latest announcement on the modernisation of COBOL, a key tool used by IBM, making it cost effective.