Fortune India Exclusive: Coders will still be vital in the GenAI era, says HCL MD and CEO
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Earlier this year, tech giant Microsoft said it now uses Artificial Intelligence to handle nearly 20%–30% of its coding. While there is a widespread fear in the industry that coding jobs might be on the firing line due to the advancements in generative AI, C Vijayakumar, CEO and MD of India’s third largest IT and Consulting firm, HCL Tech , says that there is misunderstanding in the industry that coding is one of those skills that could become redundant in the Gen AI era.
“I would strongly disagree,” he said when asked if coding skills would become redundant. “The fundamental programming concepts are going to be absolutely important. Whether you use AI or not, if you’re going to be in the software development world, programming concepts are very important,” Vijayakumar told Fortune India in an exclusive conversation.
As IT firms increasingly use generative AI tools to enhance productivity in their offerings, even for coding, Vijayakumar says human validation remains extremely vital. “Your logic skills need to be strong. You need to have good prompting skills. I think the language, the communication aspect, is very important to get the right prompts developed, and then once you create a big prompt library, then you should be able to go and pick and choose the right prompts,” he added.
October 2025
As India’s growth story gains momentum and the number of billionaires rises, the country’s luxury market is seeing a boom like never before, with the taste for luxury moving beyond the metros. From high-end watches and jewellery to lavish residences and luxurious holidays, Indians are splurging like never before. Storied luxury brands are rushing in to satiate this demand, often roping in Indian celebs as ambassadors.
Gartner, in its latest report on ‘Top Predictions for IT Organisations and Users in 2026 and Beyond’, says that with the increasing use of GenAI, hiring at firms will see an increasing differentiation between candidates who can think independently and those who lean too heavily on machine-generated output. In the near future, nearly 50% of the global organisations will require “AI-free” skills assessments and “Enterprises that successfully integrate AI-free evaluation into their broader talent strategies will protect the ‘human edge’ in decision quality and adaptability, providing an advantage that will compound as GenAI reshapes the competitive landscape,” the report states.
At a time when AI mainstreaming has put the future of IT talent at a crossroads, NITI Aayog, the public policy think tank of the Government of India, sees that by 2031, the tech services sector could either lose 1.5 million jobs or create up to four million new opportunities as a result of AI. The knowledge paper with NASSCOM & BCG—Roadmap for job creation in the AI economy—stated that the difference between the worst and best-case scenarios for the tech industry hinges on the ability to limit headwinds and capitalise on tailwinds. According to the suggested action plan to counter the headwinds,
“This involves the coming together of government, academia, and industry, with each playing a role in building an AI workforce that is skilled to ‘Build AI’ and ‘Use AI’. Such a collaboration will ensure India becomes the global talent hub for AI, contributing strongly to advancing and shaping AI for global needs, while at the same time establishing itself as a trusted AI-augmented services hub that builds the world’s AI backbone,” the report stated.