Microsoft Aims to Transform India into an AI-First Nation through Ecosystem Partnerships

MS eyes ecosystem tie-ups to make India AI-first nation

Rajesh Jha, global EVP, experience and devices at Microsoft, calls India as an "AI-forward nation" and wants to strengthen its partner ecosystem through tech companies like HCL, Infosys, Cognizant, L&T, because "for every dollar we make out of Copilot, our partners can make $8 to $10 more".The Copilot Wave 2 will go beyond individual productivity to business productivity, said Rajesh Jha, global EVP, experience and devices at Microsoft. "We're not building AI for social media or a commerce site. Copilot is a trusted AI companion for human agency, both as an assistant or at work," said Jha (51), who has been leading Office 365, Teams and Bing through his 18-year journey at Microsoft, and is a key member of the Satya Nadella clan. "The first chapter of AI was bringing AI into people's existing workflows. The second chapter is a new AI. With Copilot we have now created a new user interface for AI where chat, search, documents, collaboration have come together with Copilot pages." Last month, Microsoft unveiled Copilot Pages, a new collaborative platform which uses Copilot Bizchat to pull insights web and work data into a single shareable document. He calls India as an "AI-forward nation" and wants to strengthen its partner ecosystem through tech companies like HCL, Infosys, Cognizant, L&T, because "for every dollar we make out of Copilot, our partners can make $8 to $10 more," he said. Copilot has witnessed a 10x increase in usage in the last six months. "We really want to partner with the ecosystem in India to make India an AI-first country, an AI-first economy. Infosys disclosed they have 18,000 engineers using GitHub Copilot, generating 7 million lines of code." He said that projects like Jugalbandhi, Bhashini, Shiksha Copilot and Microsoft's commitment to skill 2 million people in AI by 2025 are some of the efforts that the company is making to advance AI in the region.

Microsoft Targets Ecosystem Partnerships to Make India as AI-First Nation: Report

Significant growth in Copilot usage, with a reported tenfold increase over the past six months. Microsoft is advancing its AI efforts with the next phase of Copilot, aiming to extend beyond individual productivity into business-wide transformation. "Copilot Wave 2 will go beyond individual productivity to business productivity," said Rajesh Jha, Global EVP of Experience and Devices at Microsoft, according to an ET report. Also Read: Infosys Expands Collaboration with Microsoft to Accelerate Generative AI Adoption Reportedly, Jha highlighted that Copilot is designed to be a trusted AI companion that enhances human agency in the workplace. "We're not building AI for social media or commerce sites," the report quoted Jha as saying. "Copilot is a trusted AI companion for human agency, both as an assistant and in the workplace." Jha, who has been with Microsoft for 18 years and oversees Office 365, Teams, and Bing, plays a crucial role in the company's AI strategy and is a key member of Satya Nadella's team. "The first chapter of AI was bringing AI into people's existing workflows. The second chapter is a new AI. With Copilot we have now created a new user interface for AI where chat, search, documents, collaboration have come together with Copilot pages," the report added. The company recently introduced Copilot Pages, a new collaborative platform that leverages Copilot BizChat, a tool that gathers insights from both web and workplace data into a shareable document. Jha refers to this as a "new user interface for AI." He reportedly calls India as an "AI-forward nation" and wants to strengthen its partner ecosystem through tech companies like HCL, Infosys, Cognizant, L&T, because "for every dollar we make out of Copilot, our partners can make USD 8 to USD 10 more," Jha said. Also Read: Microsoft to Invest EUR 4.3 Billion for AI and Cloud in Italy Copilot usage has increased tenfold in the last six months. "We really want to partner with the ecosystem in India to make it an AI-first country, an AI-first economy. Infosys disclosed that 18,000 of their engineers are using GitHub Copilot, generating 7 million lines of code," the report added Jha as saying. He also reportedly mentioned that initiatives like Jugalbandhi, Bhashini, Shiksha Copilot, and Microsoft's pledge to upskill 2 million people in AI by 2025 are part of the company's efforts to drive AI progress in the region.