Analyzed 12,614 Indian AI/Data Science jobs (till May 16) — Azure is rising, SQL beats ML, and consulting firms are quietly dominating AI hiring
Weekly analysis of AI & Data Science job postings from Indian job boards.
Sample size: 12,614 listings (till May 16, 2026).
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**Top Skills — Full Breakdown:**
| Skill | Mentions |
|--------------------|----------|
| Python | ~2,600 |
| SQL | ~2,400 |
| Machine Learning | ~1,500 |
| Artificial Intelligence | ~1,050 |
| Azure | ~1,000 |
| Java | ~1,000 |
| AWS | ~800 |
| GCP | ~600 |
| Spark | ~600 |
| Data Analysis | ~550 |
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**Key observations:**
**SQL is basically tied with Python now**
Gap is only 200 jobs. Everyone learns Python first but companies
still need SQL everywhere — pipelines, reporting, analytics layers.
If you skipped SQL thinking it's "old", reconsider.
**Azure quietly entered top 5**
~1,000 mentions. AWS was the default for years but Azure
is catching up fast in Indian enterprise hiring, especially in
BFSI and consulting. Both Azure + AWS together = ~1,800 jobs.
**Consulting firms are the real AI employers**
Top 10 companies hiring AI talent:
| Rank | Company | Jobs |
|------|------------|-------|
| 1 | TCS | ~360 |
| 2 | Accenture | ~340 |
| 3 | Leading Client | ~310 |
| 4 | Infosys | ~150 |
| 5 | EY | ~145 |
| 6 | Capgemini | ~130 |
| 7 | Amazon | ~110 |
| 8 | Databricks | ~105 |
| 9 | CGI | ~105 |
| 10 | IBM | ~100 |
EY and Capgemini in the top 6 is interesting —
Big 4 consulting is aggressively building AI/data practices.
Databricks at #8 means data engineering is very real demand.
"Leading Client" still at #3 = staffing firms hiding actual employers.
**City breakdown (expanded):**
| City | Jobs |
|------------|--------|
| Bengaluru | ~3,000 |
| Hyderabad | ~1,950 |
| Pune | ~1,200 |
| Chennai | ~850 |
| Mumbai | ~850 |
| Gurugram | ~550 |
| Remote | ~500 |
| Noida | ~480 |
Chennai entered the top 4 this time —
mostly TCS/Infosys/Accenture campuses expanding AI teams there.
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**Takeaway from this week:**
The "learn GenAI or die" crowd is louder than the actual job market.
Real JDs: Python → SQL → cloud (Azure/AWS) → ML fundamentals.
That stack gets you through 80% of listings.
Tracking this weekly at getjobpulse.in if anyone wants the dashboard.
Anyone seeing Azure demand spike in their interviews too?