Anand Mahindra says AI won't kill India's IT services; bets on enterprise AI, sovereign capabilities
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Artificial intelligence (AI) will transform rather than displace India's IT services industry, Tech Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra said on Thursday, arguing that the technology will make technology services "more important" as enterprises increasingly seek partners capable of deploying AI securely and at scale.
He stated that the company's next phase of growth will be driven by enterprise AI adoption and sovereign AI capabilities, even as businesses grapple with legacy systems, fragmented data and evolving regulations.
Speaking at Tech Mahindra's 39th Annual General Meeting, Mahindra rejected concerns that AI would erode India's IT services opportunity, saying enterprises require trusted partners to integrate, govern and operationalise AI across their businesses. He highlighted the company's operational momentum, including 10 consecutive quarters of margin expansion, deal wins exceeding $1 billion in successive quarters, Gartner's recognition of Tech Mahindra as an Emerging Leader in Generative AI Consulting and Implementation Services, and the industry's highest Net Promoter Score.
AI to redefine IT services
"At the very outset, let me tackle the elephant in the room—which is the prediction that the rise of Artificial Intelligence will kill IT services in India. My answer, however, is clear. The role of IT services will not diminish. It will change, of course. And in many ways, it will become more important," Mahindra said.
"Most enterprises operate with legacy systems, fragmented data, complex regulations and technology debt. AI can't simply be placed on top of this complexity. It has to be integrated, governed and shaped around each enterprise's context. That is why companies like ours matter—to make AI usable, trusted and valuable inside the enterprise," he added.
Enterprise AI and Project Helix
Mahindra said enterprises would increasingly differentiate themselves not by the AI models they use, but by their proprietary data, workflows and domain expertise.
"While building sovereign models is important, enterprises will increasingly need the ability to work across models... What will truly differentiate an enterprise is its own 'alpha'—its data, workflows, judgment and domain knowledge. Our role at Tech Mahindra is to help preserve that alpha through the platforms, solutions and workflows that sit above and around the model," he said.
He said the company has launched Project Helix, under which Vector Squads will combine human expertise with AI agents to build enterprise AI solutions, reiterating that the enterprise of the future will be "built on human judgment amplified by AI capability".
India's sovereign AI opportunity
Mahindra described frontier AI as a strategic capability shaped by trust, regulation and national interests, arguing that India must build indigenous capabilities instead of relying entirely on technologies developed elsewhere.
"India cannot be only a consumer of intelligence built elsewhere. It must also be a creator, shaper and trusted deployer of intelligence," he said, citing India's development of the PARAM supercomputer as an example of "denial-driven innovation".
Calling for a balanced approach, Mahindra said India should pursue "not isolation, not dependence, but indigenous capability, trusted collaboration and the ability to build, adapt and govern critical AI systems on our own terms", adding that Tech Mahindra's selection under the IndiaAI Mission reflects its role in supporting the country's AI ambitions.