Future Bright With India At The Cusp Of AI-Led Transformation

“This is India’s moment. You have to seize the opportunity,” Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang said after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his US visit. His optimism is driven by couple of factors. Firstly, the country is home to some of the world’s top computer scientists and expressed Nvidia’s eagerness to establish deep partnerships in the emerging field of AI. He also said that many startups in the country have introduced products and services based on artificial intelligence (AI). "Every IIT has an Nvidia AI Center of Excellence. We're teaching professionals. We're teaching students how to upskill and adapt in the new AI world. AI is a very complicated technology, but in the end, it enables a country to take advantage of the technology in a way that has never been possible before. AI really democratised computing. This is India's moment, you have to seize," Huang remarked. Not only Nvidia, but also Google, Microsoft, Accenture and other technology giants have also acknowledged India as a rising AI hub of the world.

The Centre’s initiatives like ‘India AI Mission’, which has seen a budget outlay of Rs. 10,372 crore, is helping rolling out of various AI-related initiatives. As computing power is a critical part AI-related developments, supercomputing capacity, comprising over 10,000 GPUs, will be made available to various stakeholders to create an AI ecosystem under the India AI Mission. Under this mission, the government aims to provide streamlined funding support for deep-tech startups in the AI space, set up an India AI innovation centre, and an AI datasets platform. These steps will definitely make the country an AI powerhouse. A good development is that, of late, even the private sector is aggressively pushing AI-related upskilling, and infrastructure development. Majors like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, LTIMindtree and Coforge, and many others have earmarked funds for making their employees ready with required AI skills.

For instance, TCS has established an AI experience zone in India, allowing engineers and employees to develop and experiment with AI and generative AI solutions. Similarly, the company is working on an AI-based interview coach that evaluates both the content of an employee’s responses and their body language and tone, providing corrective feedback. Within AI, generative AI (GenAI) is the biggest area of focus for most IT services firms. Reports suggested that TCS, Infosys, and Wipro have upskilled around 8.25 lakh employees with generative AI in FY24. Apart from government and IT firms, startups are also playing a critical role in equipping the Indian workforce with the required AI skills. According to a report released by SAP, over 77 per cent of start-ups invest in advanced technologies such as AI, ML, IoT, and blockchain in India. Importantly, many of these startups originate in tier-II and tier-III cities. This is a welcome move as it ensures that the AI-led transformation reaches every nook and corner of the country. In earlier years, India has successfully leveraged its talent base to be benefitted from emerging technologies. It has to be seen to what extent the country can replicate the same for AI.