Mid-tier IT firms ahead in AI race with better talent base

Bengaluru: Mid-tier IT firms are able to compete with their larger peers in clinching large deals in the current AI era on the back of their experienced talent base and agile workflow.

According to experts in the know, the human resources allocated by mid-tier IT firms are better than their large peers, which usually follow a pyramid mix. As part of the pyramid mix, large IT companies have large number of talents with 2-3 years of experience, while mid-tier IT firms deploy people with higher experience. Such talent contrast is attracting clients to execute projects with the mid-tier IT companies.

“From client perspective, mid-tier companies mean better delivery in many projects. Because mid-tier IT companies can’t afford many people on H1B visas. So, they are hiring more experienced people. That is the reason that many mid-tier IT firms are able to maintain the growth momentum despite AI-led disruption,”Pareekh Jain, an IT outsourcing advisor & Founder of Pareekh Consulting told the Bizz Buzz.

“Mid-tier IT firms are also investing in AI solutions and services, which are required for the current era. There is not much difference in pricing (pricing) between mid-tier IT firms and large companies,” Jain added.

In the second quarter ended September 2025, many mid-tier IT firms have outpaced their larger peers in terms of revenue growth rate.

For instance, LTIMindtree posted 4.9 per cent growth in revenue (constant currency term) in Q2 of ongoing financial year. Coforge and Persistent Systems have emerged as the fastest growing mid-tier IT firms in the Indian IT industry.

Coforge recorded a revenue growth rate of 26.6 per cent year-on-year, while Persistent Systems posted a growth rate of 17.6 per cent during Q2 of current financial year. Similarly, Mphasis’ revenue grew 10.34 per cent during the second quarter.

Industry sources said that mid-tier IT firms are able to compete with their larger peers in providing AI-powered solutions and platforms.

Several mid-tier IT companies are quite aggressive in the M&A space as they are building capabilities through such acquisitions. Meanwhile, hiring numbers of mid-tier IT companies remained healthy during the second quarter, showing their resilience despite AI-led disruption.

Earlier, many predictions had indicated that an AI wave would benefit the large firms with scale. However, mid-tier IT firms have been proving such predictions wrong as many of them emerged as specialised players in particular domains. Such focus is helping them to win more projects, sources said.