NEW DELHI– India’s technology services industry could generate up to 4 million new jobs within the next five years if it strategically adapts to the disruptions brought by artificial intelligence, according to a new report from NITI Aayog. The government think tank warned, however, that without rapid reskilling, many existing tech roles risk becoming obsolete by 2031.
To turn disruption into opportunity, NITI Aayog has proposed launching a National AI Talent Mission — a nationwide initiative to position India as the global hub for AI talent and workforce development.
The findings were unveiled in NITI Aayog’s new report, “Roadmap for Job Creation in the AI Economy,” released by CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam in the presence of senior officials including Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy; Vineet Joshi, Secretary of the Department of Higher Education; and Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog.
The report explores how AI is reshaping the structure of work and employment in India’s $245 billion technology and customer experience (CX) sectors. It warns that routine roles — such as quality assurance engineers and Level 1 support agents — could face rapid automation but notes that new, high-value roles are emerging in areas such as ethical AI, AI training, sentiment analysis, and AI DevOps.
“India’s strength lies in its people. With over 9 million technology and customer experience professionals and the world’s largest pool of young digital talent, we have both the scale and ambition. What we need now is urgency, vision, and coordination,” said Subrahmanyam.
Debjani Ghosh emphasized that the future depends on swift, coordinated action. “The difference between job loss and job creation depends squarely on the choices we make today. This roadmap provides a clear, actionable path to ensure India becomes the global epicenter of AI talent by 2035,” she said.
The roadmap calls for synergy between the proposed National AI Talent Mission and the ongoing IndiaAI Mission, alongside close collaboration between government, academia, and industry to expand compute infrastructure, data access, and advanced AI research capacity.
According to NITI Aayog, decisive leadership and a unified strategy could enable India not only to protect its existing workforce but also to lead global innovation in artificial intelligence. (Source: IANS)
