The source of good news is not a recently released government report, a survey by an HR consultancy, or an effervescent finding from one of the Big Four. Instead, the basis is an insightful document published by Blume Ventures, a Venture Capital enterprise and seed fund based in Mumbai.
Nowhere in the ‘Indus Valley Annual Report 2025’ will you find a forecast or attribution to the revival of tech jobs. If you look closer, however, at its analysis of economic trends, the answer becomes apparent.
Sharing some trivia before we get to the crux. The report researchers and writers, a motley lot part of Blume Ventures, say the term ‘Indus Valley’ in the title refers to the Indus Valley civilisation, one of the vibrant centres of the ancient world, and the ancestral civilisation of the Indian people.
What prompted the coining of the name? India’s vibrant startup ecosystem, concentrated in the eastern suburbs of Bangalore, the satellite cities of Gurgaon and Noida in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), the districts of Lower Parel and the Andheri East – Powai belt in Mumbai, the Southern suburbs of Chennai, and in the various scattered pockets across many other cities such as Pune, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and more has lacked a singular name. “At Blume, we like to use Indus Valleyas a catch-all moniker for the Indian startup ecosystem. It is also an attitude, a mindset, one of invention, and ‘jugaad and chutzpah”, they say.
Two shades of India
The report takes an unbiased view of the state of the nation. While affirming India remains the world’s fastest-growing major economy with 6.5% for 2025, and now ranks fourth in market cap at $4.5T, the finger points to the downside: at a per capita level, India ranks 149th – illustrating the economic paradox we live in.
Even more interesting, the report says, is the two stories or shades of India’s $3.6T economy: a consumption-driven nation with 56% of GDP and a services powerhouse with 54%. This unique structure — prioritising consumption over investment, services over manufacturing — shapes both opportunities and challenges for India’s growth journey.
The writers’ flair, assimilation of facts, and analysis of data are evident from the preamble page, and you know you are in for a good read. Bearing in mind our focus is tech jobs, let’s proceed to interpret relevant trends from the narrative.
As early as page three the first hint appears – that consumption and services dominate India’s GDP. The nation’s manufacturing playbook is dubbed as good, not great, which is hint two. The third pointer is a comment that India does not invest sufficiently in human capital. Viewed from our lens, the message is a need to nurture tech talent.
What are the sectors wherein tech jobs could be on the rise? Before we dive deep, an understanding of the services economy would help. According to page 28 of the Indus Valley Report Services Exports from India constituted primary IT Services with the share being above 40% over the last 18 years.
Global Capability Centers
The report refers to the establishment of Global Capability Centers – a vibrant new segment that’s infrastructure-intensive and people-oriented – and how India has emerged as a global leader with 1,700 GCCs. The headcount and revenue are growing faster than IT Services, the report says.
Artificial Intelligence
Next comes a deep dive into a segment that’s now the talk of the town – Artificial Intelligence. To validate their view, the writers highlight a tweet on X that presents a glowing account of AI in India: “India’s developers have gone a leap further. They’re increasingly using AI to build AI. India has the second highest number of contributors to public generative AI projects”.
At a broader level, many Indian-founded start-ups are building competencies in AI, which includes: services, applications, middleware, foundation models, cloud platforms, and computer hardware.
How about specifics? Two creators in the AI space find a mention – invideoAI, which posted phenomenal revenue growth in 16 months with just 80 people, and presentations. AI which scaled up to one million users in 84 days.
Quick Commerce
Can’t miss the last one, and even if we do, the chiming of the doorbell will remind us of its ubiquitous existence. Quick commerce is here and transforming e-commerce like never before.
The report says: With 24x growth in order value since FY22 and a user base doubling YoY, Quick Commerce is redefining India’s retail landscape. According to data compiled by the researchers, in 2022, a dark store took 23 months to turn EBITDA-positive with Rs. 4 crores spent on capex, while in 2024 a similar effort turned EBITDA-positive in 8 months with Rs. 1.5 crores in capex.
Quick Commerce, a sub-vertical that started with the promise of delivery of grocery and other perishables, FMCG, and other daily needs within ten minutes has now expanded to other products such as electronics, apparel, cosmetics, toys, and other general merchandise, the Report points out.
From the report, and examples quoted above, it is evident that tech jobs are plentiful, and hiring will increase year on year. As an example, Quick Commerce is not all about riders and delivery personnel. Working at the backend and back offices are the coders, full stack developers, and solution architects who make q-commerce tick.
If you are a fresher with technical qualifications such as an engineering degree, IT professional with programming and other requisite skills, or a person with expertise in ad tech and martech, look for openings in the emerging and sunrise segments listed above.
As for the Indus Valley Report, the creators must be complimented for a breath of fresh air in a market inundated by mundane research data. Credit goes to three Blumers – Sajith Pai, Anurag Pagaria and Nachammai Savithiri – and Editorial Fellow Dhruv Trehan.
(The writer is a former journalist and advertising professional now serving as advisor and mentor in the SaaS space).
Published – April 03, 2025 06:50 pm IST