Indian AI Pool to Touch 1.25 million by 2027; Still Not Enough to Bridge the AI Gap Most Indian IT companies have already started training their existing workforce on AI and modern technologies

Growing aggressively, Generative Artificial Intelligence is expected to account for 33 per cent of the global AI market by 2027. When it comes to the Indian AI landscape, one cannot discuss it without mentioning the role played by the Indian Information Technology (IT) sector. The sector significantly contributes to the nation with great technocrats, skilled labor, and visionary entrepreneurs. It alone constituted seven per cent of the Indian GDP in FY23.

The IT-BPM (business process management) industry stands out as a vital catalyst in India's export expansion—constituting more than 50 per cent of the nation's total services exports, amounting to USD 200 billion, a joint report by Nasscom and Deloitte said.

Additionally, India's AI talent pool of 6 to 6.5 lakh is projected to touch over 1.25 million by 2027. This growth is driven by the escalating demand for deep tech products and service solutions including AI/GenAI, Blockchain, and Augmented reality/Virtual reality.

The AI market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25 -35 per cent to reach USD 500 billion by 2027. However, this growth will not be enough to bridge the skill gap in India. "Even this significant growth in AI skilled workforce may not be enough to keep pace with the growth of AI demand as skills are growing at about 13 per cent while the AI market demand is growing at a CAGR of anywhere between 25 to 35 per cent. There is a significant demand-supply gap which needs a huge effort in terms of skilling," Sathish Gopalaiah, president, tech and transformation, Deloitte South Asia explained.

The report suggests a three-dimensional lens of AI skills that can help companies to sustain in the highly competitive environment.

Level 1—Skills of the past: Basic programming, data analysis, and fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will be relevant only for the next three to four years but will not significantly drive career growth.

Level 2—Skills relevant today: The report suggests that advanced ML and deep learning, NLP, RPA, and AI model deployment skills are pertinent in today's environment.

Level 3—Skills of tomorrow: AI ethics and compliance, autonomous systems, edge AI, training and fine-tuning AI models and quantum computing will become prevalent in the next few years.

Additionally, it also suggests different learning paths, ranging from generic to specialized such as general basic AI literacy among employees, leveraging AI to improve productivity and be AI first in the respective discipline, integrating AI tools and technologies into existing workflows among others to build a strong AI skill pool in India.

"As India sets its eyes on this ambitious goal, it is crucial to develop a skilled workforce and foster an enabling environment for innovation and growth. To advance India's AI exports, it needs to take up a slew of measures such as investing in upskilling initiatives, fostering collaboration between industry and academia, setting up data and AI labs among others," the report mentioned.

Most Indian IT companies have already started training their existing workforce on AI and modern technologies. TCS and Wipro trained 350,000 and 220,000 employees in FY 2023-24, respectively. Additionally, Microsoft announced it will provide AI training to two million people in India by 2025 while Infosys shared it will assist academia in curriculum design with its Infosys Springboard initiative.

Apart from private sectors, the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has developed interventions for K12 and Graduate/Post Graduate level to create an AI-ready talent pool. Notably, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has also collaborated with tech companies to create a future-ready workforce in India.