BFSI to add over 3 lakh digital jobs in 2026 as AI, risk skills command premium
BFSI sector is reshaping their workforces around AI, data and risk as digital adoption deepens and regulation tightens, with employers expected to keep paying a premium for high-demand technology skills in 2026, Anuj Khurana, co-founder and CEO of workforce intelligence firm Anaptyss, said.
Khurana said 2025 marked an inflection point for the BFSI sector as institutions moved beyond automation and core-system upgrades to a phase where talent had become the main differentiator in how firms “innovate, comply and scale”.
He said hiring was increasingly anchored around high-impact digital skills including AI and machine learning, data engineering, cybersecurity, digital process automation, product management and risk technology.
The shift reflects how financial services roles are changing as open banking frameworks, cloud-native platforms, embedded finance and AI-led decisioning gain momentum, he said.
“Financial services increasingly transitioned from transaction-led roles to capability-driven talent models,” Khurana said, arguing that technology and risk resilience are now intertwined with day-to-day operations.
He pointed to the rapid expansion of global capability centres in banking and financial services as a driver of specialised hiring, estimating the BFSI GCC market at about $40 billion and projecting it to reach $125 billion-$135 billion by 2032, with high-skill roles growing 15%-20% annually.
The enforcement of Digital Personal Data Protection Act in 2025 has also pushed “data governance and privacy-by-design to the forefront”, he said, intensifying demand for talent that blends technology, compliance and data security.
Looking to 2026, Khurana said hiring demand would stay “strongly skewed toward digital-first and risk-led skillsets”, with sustained recruitment across AI and ML engineering, data science and analytics, cybersecurity, cloud and platform engineering, regulatory technology, model risk management and digital lending platform engineering.
BFSI sector could generate over 3 lakh digital jobs in 2026
The sector could generate 300,000-350,000 new digital and domain-led roles, he said, with mid-to-senior compensation for critical skills in the range of ₹25–₹60 lakh a year. “The premium placed on specialised expertise” is rising as institutions race to build capability while meeting tighter risk and compliance expectations, Khurana added.
He also expects execution to accelerate from tier-2 cities—such as Surat, Lucknow, Coimbatore and Indore—as firms chase cost efficiencies, talent availability and scalable delivery models, supplementing established metro hubs.
Diversity targets are likely to sharpen alongside hiring, he said, projecting women will account for 35%-38% of new BFSI hires as institutions embed inclusive talent strategies into longer-term leadership pipelines.
