India's AI workforce demand to cross 1 million mark by 2026
India is witnessing an enormous boom in Artificial Intelligence (AI) education, with the government introducing fresh plans to prepare the country with sufficient skilled personnel in the sector to meet growing demand. The government has estimated that the country can need up to 1 million AI professionals next year, as informed by a new report from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), entitled 'India's AI Revolution: A Roadmap to Viksit Bharat'.advertisementIt has been endeavouring to promote AI learning at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels. Under the IndiaAI Future Skills initiative, AI has also become part of mainstream education with fellowships to full-time students undertaking PhD in AI in India's top 50 NIRF-ranked institutions.To make AI accessible, the Centre is also setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. A model lab has already been set up at NIELIT Delhi.
The labs will offer students in small towns hands-on experience in emerging technologies.The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has also seen growth in BTech seats for 2024–25. Sanctioned seats have grown to 14.9 lakh, a rise of 16% over four years. The rise mainly comes from increases of over 50% for seats in popular areas such as Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, and Blockchain.advertisementAs per the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, higher education institutions are reframing curricula to include cutting-edge areas of study like AI, 5G, and semiconductor design. This will improve graduates' employability and close the gap between work and education.In another attempt to make AI learning popular, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has launched five free online courses in AI on its SWAYAM Plus platform. These courses are open to undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as working professionals.With the backing of the government as well as the academia, India is rapidly building an AI-ready talent pool to drive the next wave of technological growth.Must Watch
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