The Fresher Playbook for AI Engineering Placements in India 2026

Overall IT fresher hiring crashed, but AI-track freshers are being pulled the other way, some at three times the pay of the generic track. Here is exactly what to learn (including the agentic AI and multi-agent skills most freshers miss), what to build, and how the new machine-first campus funnel actually screens you, before the placement season ahead.

IT fresher hiring in India fell sharply over three years, yet Infosys is offering freshers up to 21 LPA in its AI specialist track against 7 LPA for the digital track. This is the full placement-season playbook: the skill stack that actually gets hired, why agentic AI and multi-agent apps are the bet to make, the projects that beat a 9 CGPA, how the new resume-parse-to-final-round funnel screens you by machine, where to aim across service, product, startup, consumer internet, and AI labs, and a focused pre-placement prep plan.