New Delhi, March 11 -- As the dust settles on India's recent AI summit-optimistic in tone, ambitious in scope-a harder question demands an honest answer. What does the next wave of artificial intelligence mean for a sector that has served as a key economic engine for three decades?

Information technology (IT) services generate over $254 billion in annual exports, employ 5.4 million professionals and finance a merchandise trade deficit that has breached $300 billion.

Software exports are a success story. They are also a macroeconomic stabilizer, rupee backstop and social contract (given their role in expanding India's middle class).

This engine is under threat as Agentic AI systems deployed at scale by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Micr...