Midst a sluggish hiring environment in the Indian IT industry, Infosys has said it will continue its campus recruitment drive and absorb at least 20,000 students in various verticals.

However, this year the focus will be on hiring engineers with new skill sets in new and emerging technologies such as data analytics and cloud, following the rising demand from its clients. Traditional services such as maintenance and testing are increasingly getting automated.

“Infosys last year extended over 20,000 offers on campus that will join the company this year,” a company spokesperson told Moneycontrol, adding that the number of recruits is expected to remain consistent in the coming season.

Till now, the big players such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS, and Congizant have been servicing a certain kind of sector that requires human intervention.

“The transformation to a new skill set should have been a gradual one. But now that automation is a reality, these companies are rushing to hire talent with new skill sets,” Roydon Gonsalves, Director, CXO Practice, Ray & Berndtson HR practices, said.

The big IT companies have been laying off staff as a result of automation. But Nasscom in a statement has said that recruitments will continue to be strong in new skills.

“The industry continues to be a net hirer with over 1.5 lakh people being employed on a net basis each year, though the focus is shifting from scale to skill. Talent and skills are the key building blocks for the industry which are intensifying investment in skilling/reskilling its workforce to strengthen its foundation on a continuous basis,” A Nasscom statement read.

The continued commitment of Infosys to hire from campuses can spread a positive cheer in an industry marred by the loom of layoffs. Infosys will start hiring in campuses starting September – the usual campus hiring phase every year, the company spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, Infosys announced that it will hire at least 10,000 engineers in the US over the next two years and also open four new technology and innovation hubs in the country. The focus here too will be on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data, the company had said.

(This story has been updated)