India’s AI talent base expected to more than double by 2027

India’s growing AI talent base is also reflected in global developer participation. As per global data on GitHub AI projects by geographic distribution, India was the second-largest contributor worldwide in 2024, accounting for 19.9 per cent of all AI projects.

“This underscores the depth of India’s AI developer ecosystem. It also validates the Government’s focus on large-scale AI skilling, research and innovation under the IndiaAI Mission,” according to Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw.

India's AI strategy is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of democratizing technology. It aims to address India-centric challenges and create opportunities and jobs in AI.

AI-specific jobs span multiple sectors such as IT, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, governance, etc. As AI adoption deepens across these sectors, the demand for skilled professionals is also rising.

The government of India recognises this and has aligned its AI initiatives in this direction. This is also reflected in global assessments about India’s AI workforce.

As per the 'Stanford AI Index Report 2025', India leads the world in AI talent acquisition, with an annual hiring rate of about 33 per cent and ranks among the top countries globally in AI skill penetration.

The country has seen AI talent concentration grow more than threefold since 2016. India ranks among the top three countries in Stanford University’s Global AI Vibrancy Tool, reflecting its growing strength in AI talent and infrastructure.

Various initiatives of the government support the development of AI talent pipeline, like ‘IndiaAI FutureSkills,’ which is one of the pillars of IndiaAI mission where focus is on developing AI talent and research pipeline.

The government is supporting 500 PhD scholars, 5,000 postgraduates and 8,000 undergraduates for AI-related work.

IndiaAl Data and AI Labs are established in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities through NIELIT to conduct coursework in AI, data curation, annotation, cleaning and applied data science. Moreover, 174 lTIs and Polytechnics across 27 states/UTs have been approved to set up additional IndiaAl Data and AI Labs, according to the minister.

Under the ‘FutureSkills PRIME’ initiative, the government, in collaboration with Nasscom, is equipping learners with cutting-edge skills essential in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape including AI, Big data and Cloud computing.