India could become world's AI skill capital if AI literacy doubles to 60% by 2030, says IBM

India can become world's AI skill capital if AI literacy doubles by 2030: IBM India MD - The Economic Times

India could emerge as the global "skill capital" for artificial intelligence (AI) if the country significantly expands its AI-literate workforce by 2030, according to IBM India & South Asia Managing Director Sandip Patel. Speaking to on the sidelines of the launch of the joint IBM-IndiaAI report titled "From promise to power: How AI is redefining India's economic future", Patel said India already has a large AI-aware workforce base, but scaling it further would make the country a major global AI talent hub. "Today the workforce, the addressable workforce, if you will, in India, give or take, is about 600 million employees, 600 million workers," Patel told ANI. "What the report is stating is that about 30% of that, which is almost 200 million workers, they are AI literate. That is a huge number," he said. Patel added that India's position could strengthen significantly if AI literacy expands further over the next few years. "Now, if you can increase that to 60%, almost 60% by 2030, we will become a very formidable power in India with an AI-literate workforce," he said. "And if you think about what the world needs in terms of AI literacy and the workforce, we can truly become the skill capital of the world as far as AI is concerned," Patel added. The report by IBM and IndiaAI said artificial intelligence could contribute more than $500 billion to India's economy by 2030, with enterprises increasingly viewing AI as a major driver of economic growth. Patel, however, said many companies are still struggling to move AI adoption beyond pilot projects due to several operational and structural challenges. "A lot of them have not moved from pilot to scale for a variety of different reasons. One of them being data readiness," he said. "A lot of organisations don't have data ready that can actually enable them to scale AI," Patel added. He further said trust and governance issues are also slowing enterprise AI adoption. "Trust and AI governance. Whether you can trust the outcomes that AI is delivering and whether you have the right kind of governance for responsible AI," he said. Patel also stressed the need for leadership-level AI understanding within organisations. "Skill sets... And it's not about just employees' skills, do you have executives and managers who are running the company, right? If they fully appreciate how to use AI to drive value and embed AI within the business processes to really unleash the value of AI," he said. Addressing concerns around job losses due to AI, Patel said technological changes have historically transformed the nature of work rather than eliminating jobs entirely. "AI is both creating productivity improvements, which is changing the complexion of jobs, but it's also creating new skill sets that people have to adapt and learn, which then creates newer jobs," he said. "It allows people to drive greater productivity and grow their businesses through the productivity improvements that are happening through AI. That's the way we have to look at it," Patel added.

IBM-IndiaAI Study Projects AI to Drive a $500 Billion Economic Surge by 2030

India is entering a defining phase in its economic transformation as artificial intelligence (AI) is set to move beyond experimentation to become a foundational force powering national growth, according to a new study by the IBM Institute for Business Value and IndiaAI. The research reveals that AI could contribute more than $500 billion to India's economy by 2030, positioning the country among the world's most dynamic AI-driven economies. Titled 'From promise to power: How AI is redefining India's economic future', the study underscores a powerful convergence of ambition and urgency: four in five business leaders believe AI investments will directly influence India's GDP growth, while 73% expect India to emerge as a leading global AI nation by 2030. Looking ahead, the research also reveals a critical inflection gap as 72% of surveyed organizations acknowledge they are behind global peers in AI adoption. Bridging this divide between ambition and execution will be pivotal in determining India's leadership in the global AI economy. Speaking at the report's launch, Shri S Krishnan, Secretary - Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India said, "India is no longer just participating in the global AI conversation, we are helping shape it. Our vision is clear. AI must evolve as an extension of our people's aspirations, driving inclusive growth and national progress. Guided by our vision of Viksit Bharat, we are advancing a human centric approach to AI rooted in trust, ethics, and national sovereignty. This joint IndiaAI and IBM study is a timely contribution that will help align policy, industry, and innovation to unlock AI's full potential for India's economic future." "AI has the potential to become one of the most powerful growth engines for India's economy," said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India & South Asia. "What will set India apart is not just the scale of adoption, but how organizations build trusted AI agents and systems on strong data foundations, hybrid architectures, and a workforce empowered to work alongside AI. With the right investments in skills, governance, and infrastructure, India can translate AI ambition into sustained economic impact," he added. India's AI moment: Converging on a sovereign hybrid model For regulated sectors and public systems, a sovereign AI foundation is fast becoming a strategic necessity. 74% of surveyed executives say control over where data resides is essential, pointing to a growing convergence around sovereign, hybrid-by-design architecture. This does not imply isolation, rather when combined with open standards it enables organizations to access global innovation while retaining control over sensitive workloads. This model is emerging as the trust layer that will allow India to scale AI confidently and on its own terms. Organizations are increasingly adopting a hybrid approach to balance performance, cost, and control, with 7 in 10 surveyed executives saying it improves control over data location without significantly increasing costs. Data and AI infrastructure will be key India may be racing toward an AI-powered future, but the data reveals a more complex story. 57% respondents cite uneven data quality and 77% lack of accessible, affordable, and secure cloud infrastructure are major barriers to AI readiness. Despite the excitement around advanced AI, the findings indicate that Indian enterprises' ability to scale AI is shaped not by the sophistication of the models but by the readiness of enterprise data and infrastructure. These foundational technical choices emerge as a key factor in transforming AI from experiment into an operational engine that delivers enterprise-wide impact. Building India's AI talent pipeline at scale India has made significant progress in building an AI talent pool, but the study points to a growing skills gap. Today, only about 30% of employees possess the level of AI literacy businesses say they require. By 2030, respondents indicate that figure must rise to nearly 57%. This suggests the total AI talent needed in India will be more than 350 million by 2030. The findings highlight the pressure to rethink how India learns and works -- through new education models, redesigned career pathways, and clearer guidance on which skills matter most in an AI-driven economy. Initiatives like IndiaAI FutureSkills are responding by embedding AI fluency into education and corporate training, with data and AI labs expanding across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, helping broaden access to AI skills development and to address this gap nationwide. Other key findings from the study: Enterprises are preparing to move from pilots to AI at scale * 15% of surveyed organizations are currently scaling AI through significant cross-functional investments, while the remaining 85% are in pilot-stage AI initiatives. Sovereign and hybrid cloud architectures are foundational to scaling trustworthy AI * 62% of respondents say data localization strengthens trust, while 77% pointed out that Indian-based cloud capacity is critical for trustworthy AI. * 67% of surveyed executives say AI innovation will be constrained without stronger domestic capability. Focus on integrating robust AI governance and deeper ecosystem partnerships * 68% of surveyed enterprises cite gaps in AI governance as a barrier to scaling, while 45% say they are piloting or have already embedded governance practices into everyday systems. * Partnerships are becoming more focused as 68% of surveyed executives say India needs an ecosystem-oriented approach to AI adoption.