Is data science a good career in India? What 2026 hiring data says

Data science is still a good career in India for candidates with specialist skills, but on 2026 hiring data the demand is uneven. Naukri's JobSpeak index for September 2026 put AI and ML roles 20% above a year earlier, while overall white-collar hiring rose 2%. Growth sits in specialist roles, so outcomes depend on the skills a candidate brings and the sector targeted.

Is data science still a good move in India right now?

Yes, for candidates who can show specialist skills, though the headline numbers hide caveats. The same Naukri release shows IT and software services hiring down 4% year on year in September 2026, while AI and ML hiring inside that sector grew 11%. The market is not shrinking evenly. It is moving towards particular skills.

foundit's tracker counts online vacancies, and it found them 9% lower in June 2026 than a year earlier and 5% lower month on month, extending a 12% slide over six months. Hiring was narrowing to specialist roles. A fresher who reads only the AI headlines will overestimate the market, and one who reads only the vacancy dip will miss the pockets that are growing.

Naukri reports AI/ML roles as one category, so its figures are a proxy for data science and not a count of data scientist vacancies. The same caution applies to every posting-based number below.

How fast is demand for data scientists growing?

Employer surveys project the fastest growth. WEF's Future of Jobs Report 2025, published in January 2025, projects net growth to 2030 of 54% for data analysts and scientists among surveyed employers operating in India, 176% for AI and machine learning specialists and 17% for business intelligence analysts. Its global figure for data analysts and scientists is 41%.

These are employer projections off small bases, and they are not counts of vacancies.

For a reference point outside India, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects data scientist employment there to grow 35% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year on average. That is a United States figure and not a forecast for India.

Postings data gives a monthly view. Naukri JobSpeak showed AI/ML roles up 49% year on year in February 2026, 22% in May, 31% in August and 20% in September. Naukri itself says August was helped by festive-season timing, so the spread across months matters more than any single reading. foundit counted 290,256 AI job postings in India in 2025 and projected 381,846 for 2026, a 32% rise, though its own mid-2026 tracker shows the wider market softer.

An AI job posting is not the same thing as a data scientist vacancy. In foundit's 2025 data, data science and advanced analytics skills appeared in 18% of AI postings, next to machine learning in 34%, so the 290,256 total covers a wider set of roles.

The table puts the main demand signals side by side, each with its publisher and period.

Where are the data science jobs, and is hiring shifting to India?

By sector, foundit found AI hiring in 2025 concentrated in information technology and in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), with manufacturing and healthcare emerging as high-growth sectors. CXOToday's coverage of the NASSCOM and Indeed report adds that 63% of surveyed employers across industries reported a year-on-year rise in AI-related hiring, led by BFSI and telecommunications.

Global capability centres (GCCs), the India-based units that multinational companies run for engineering, analytics and operations work, are where the shift towards India is easiest to see. The Zinnov-NASSCOM 2026 GCC report counts 2,117 GCCs in FY2026 employing 2.36 million people, and describes India as the number one AI hiring market globally, which is the report's own claim. Tribune India's coverage of the report says more than 1,200 GCCs in India have embedded AI and machine learning capabilities.

So a company adding roles in India is part of a pattern and not an exception, though the pace is measured. foundit tracked GCC jobs up 11% year on year in June 2026, in a market where overall vacancies fell 9%, and expects GCC hiring to grow 12% over 2026. Naukri's September 2026 reading was 4% growth in GCC hiring, and it does not break out data roles.

By city, the same Naukri release showed GCC hiring up 23% in Hyderabad, 13% in Chennai, 11% in Pune and 3% in Bengaluru. foundit's GCC page adds that Tier-2 and emerging cities grew 23% year on year, so the largest metros are not the only places adding roles.

Inside GCCs, foundit's mid-2026 snapshot lists data engineers as the top trending role in GCC IT (+32% year on year), data scientists in GCC manufacturing (+28%), and AI/ML engineers (+30%) and data analysts or BI developers (+26%) in GCC BFSI. These measure posting volume within each sector, so they show direction and not the number of jobs.

Is data science safe from AI, and which skills do employers list now?

AI is changing what data roles contain. In the NASSCOM and Indeed report of 19 May 2026, 86% of employers had seen some effect of AI on job roles and 35% had seen significant redefinition of roles.

Job ads show the same shift. Indeed's India data, as reported by IANS in March 2026, found AI referenced in 40% of data and analytics postings in January 2026, against 29% of software development postings.

Adoption is wide, but scale is limited. NASSCOM's October 2026 study of 200 India-headquartered enterprises found 95% had implemented agentic AI, yet production-grade deployment remained the exception. 78% confine agentic action to structured tasks with clearly defined end points, and the majority require full human approval before an agent acts. Among the top concerns the study names are poor data quality, model trust and safe data sharing, which sit close to the work of data teams.

The skills list has moved with all this. In foundit's 2025 data, machine learning appeared in 34% of AI job postings (up 29% on 2024), generative AI and LLMs in 22% (up 58%), data science and advanced analytics in 18% (up 24%) and MLOps and model deployment in 10% (up 42%). The NASSCOM-Deloitte 2025 compensation survey says the technical proficiency expected of campus hires has moved over three years from basic coding and cloud fundamentals to advanced data analytics, AI/ML and DevOps.

At the early-career end, foundit's December 2025 snapshot puts Python (22% share) and SQL and databases (18%) at the top of the skills list for 0-3 years of experience. WEF's India survey adds that 79% of employers list analytical thinking among core skills of 2025 and 94% expect AI and big data to be a skill of increasing use by 2030.

Supply is thin at the AI end: TeamLease Digital estimates that only 16% of India's IT professionals hold AI skills. How these skills divide between a data scientist and an AI engineer is the subject of a role-by-role comparison.

What does market data say about data scientist pay?

Named sources give different averages because their methods differ. Indeed India's data scientist page, updated on 15 October 2026, shows an average base salary of Rs 11,97,456 a year, drawn from 301 salaries in job postings over 36 months and covering every experience level. AIM Research's Analytics India Salary Study 2024 put the median for data and analytics professionals at 15.1 LPA, across all roles and levels.

AmbitionBox's 2026 employee-reported data averages Rs 16.1 lakh a year for data scientists across 61.8k salaries, rising from Rs 11.9 lakh at 1-3 years of experience to Rs 15.8 lakh at 3-6 years and Rs 21.6 lakh at 6-9 years. Self-reported figures skew towards larger employers, and posting-based averages depend on what employers publish.

Skill mix shows up in pay data as well. The NASSCOM-Deloitte 2025 compensation survey found AI/ML roles carry the highest pay premiums among premium-skill roles, followed by cybersecurity and cloud computing, and TeamLease Digital's Digital Skills and Salary Primer for FY2026-27 says AI-Core roles start at 2.5-3 times the pay of AI-Support roles. None of these is a fresher offer or a promise.

For a fuller look at pay by level, see the blog's data scientist salary explainer for 2026.

How hard is entry for freshers, and who should choose data science?

Entry is possible and competitive. foundit reports that roles asking for 0-3 years of experience made up 18% of AI jobs in 2025 and grew 28% year on year, yet its June 2026 view shows demand for that band at -6% as companies pulled back on bulk graduate intake after a strong year. Naukri's September 2026 data has fresher AI/ML hiring in IT up 19% and notes that AI/ML demand is higher among experienced professionals.

Both readings can hold at once, because employers say skilled applicants are the scarce part. In the NASSCOM and Indeed report, 58% of employers say too few skilled applicants come forward and 50% cite skills mismatch. Entry-level hiring, band by band is covered in a separate piece, and the blog's beginner's roadmap to becoming a data scientist sets out the learning order.

Data science suits candidates who are comfortable with statistics and code, can work with messy data and enjoy explaining a result to the people who will act on it. Depth counts: NASSCOM's 2026 AI-Native Talent Index report, which covers early-career technology talent, says sustained investment in technical depth, mentorship and independent judgment remains essential.

It suits a candidate less if the draw is a quick pay jump, since pay varies widely with experience and entry is selective. Someone who prefers fixed, repeatable tasks may find an adjacent path a better fit.

Where does a data science certification fit?

Candidates who want a structured route can look at Certification in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, an online programme from E&ICT Academy, IIT Roorkee, run with Masai as the implementation partner, with live online sessions and an optional campus immersion at IIT Roorkee. It covers Python, data analysis, SQL, statistics, machine learning and generative AI. Its modules include Programming & Data Foundations, SQL, Visualization & Data Storytelling, Machine Learning and GenAI for Data Science, followed by a capstone project.

Frequently asked questions

What is the scope of a data scientist in India?

WEF's Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects 54% net growth to 2030 for data analysts and scientists among surveyed employers operating in India. Naukri recorded AI/ML roles up 20% in September 2026. The scope is real but concentrated in specialist roles, since foundit found overall online vacancies 9% lower in June 2026 than a year earlier.

Is data science a stable career?

Hiring data shows demand that is steady and uneven. Naukri's 2026 monthly readings for AI/ML roles ranged between 20% and 49% growth, while foundit's mid-2026 tracker shows the wider market softer. NASSCOM's Strategic Review 2026 expects hiring to move from volume to skill mix, so stability depends on keeping skills current.

What tech jobs are safe from AI?

In the NASSCOM and Indeed report, 86% of employers had seen AI affect job roles. NASSCOM's October 2026 study also finds most enterprises require human approval before an AI agent acts, and it names data quality and model trust among the main barriers, which is work that data teams do.

How much does a data scientist earn in India?

Indeed India shows an average base salary of Rs 11,97,456 a year for data scientists, from 301 salaries in job postings, updated on 15 October 2026. AmbitionBox's 2026 employee-reported data averages Rs 16.1 lakh. Both are market averages across experience levels and employers, so neither describes a typical first offer.

Is it worth learning programming after AI?

Employers are raising technical expectations and not dropping them. foundit's December 2025 snapshot puts Python at the top of the skills list for 0-3 years of experience, and NASSCOM and Deloitte's 2025 survey says campus hires are now expected to bring advanced data analytics, AI/ML and DevOps skills. Programming remains the base those skills sit on.

Next step

The Certification in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, E&ICT Academy IIT Roorkee page sets out the curriculum and how to apply.