bengaluru, Feb. 7 -- Top information technology (IT) services companies are racing to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) agents from specialist firms across their domains, at a time when the debut of advanced AI tools threatens to eat their lunch. Four of the country's largest IT outsourcers-Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, and Wipro Ltd-are partnering with smaller firms and adopting their AI agents for software development, data analysis and marketing, highlighting the business transformation unleashed by generative AI three years ago. While these partnerships could accelerate capability building and bring better economics for clients, the shift could eventually weigh on hiring, particularly for freshers and mid-level, task-oriented roles, experts said. On 28 January, the fourth-largest Indian IT company, Wipro, announced a partnership with San Francisco-based Factory to deploy AI agents for software development purposes. Wipro would delegate software development work for clients to these AI tools, which would handle functions such as software testing and feature development. The Factory partnership reflects a broader shift among global enterprises, "from Al experimentation towards production-scale adoption," Wipro's chief technology officer Sandhya Arun said in a statement to stock exchanges. AI agents are designed to undertake large workflows like handling an entire marketing programme and make decisions like humans, beyond performing mundane tasks like coding based on set guidelines. The country's second-largest IT company, Infosys, on 27 January, announced a partnership with San Francisco-based AI company Cursor to deploy AI software engineers that would build AI-centric software products. As part of the agreement, both companies would set up a centre of excellence to develop these agents. This announcement comes three weeks after Infosys announced a partnership with Cognition, where the company would deploy AI software engineers for clients. Infosys's management expects work from agents to increase. "There are places where the economics (of the deal) have changed completely from a client perspective," said Salil Parekh, chief executive officer (CEO) of Infosys, during the company's post-earnings press conference on 14 January. When the expertise of Infosys combines with software agents in legacy modernization work, the whole economics from a client perspective becomes much better, Parekh said, allowing "a lot of these projects which were not happening to start happening." Most Indian IT companies currently don't disclose revenue contributions from automation tools. "While Infy's Al commentary had a more positive tone, we remain cautious if trends such as the transition of managing people/processes to managing agents are net additive to durable growth," said BMO Capital Markets analysts Keith Bachman, Bradley Clark, Adam J. Holets, and Jonathan Stein, in a note dated 14 January. "We believe projects around data are more additive in the near term for all providers, particularly if generative AI enterprise adoption continues to stall." However, HCLTech reported $246 million in advanced AI revenue in the July-December 2025 period. It ended last year with $13.85 billion in revenue, up 3.85% on a yearly basis. On 22 December, HCLTech announced its acquisition of Belgium-based AI startup, Wobby, for $5.3 million. As part of the acquisition, HCLSoftware, which is the Noida-based company's software development arm, would make use of Wobby's AI data analyst agents. The acquisition is expected to close by February. Nasdaq-listed Cognizant announced a partnership with Palo Alto-based Typeface to deploy agents for marketing purposes on 26 January. Typeface uses AI agents to ideate and create marketing campaigns. As part of the engagement, Cognizant would help clients use Typeface software by providing advisory, creative and implementation services. Cognizant has about two-thirds of its 349,800-strong workforce is based out of India....