NEW DELHI — India has strengthened its position as a global talent engine even as the worldwide movement of highly skilled workers fell 8.5 percent year-on-year, equal to roughly 220,000 fewer long-term cross-border career moves, according to a report released on Friday.
The report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said India posted a 1.9 percent gain in global artificial intelligence talent share and a 1.4 percent gain in STEM talent share, placing the country consistently within the global top 10 across all tracked talent categories.
Backed by a large and educated population, as well as strong representation in leading universities, India is described as one of the world’s most resilient and future-ready talent engines.
BCG highlighted that seven of the top 10 global universities producing AI talent are in India, with Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University emerging as the single largest source of globally mobile AI graduates across five major destination markets.
The University of Mumbai, Anna University in Chennai and Visvesvaraya Technological University followed in the rankings.
The global decline in mobility was driven by geopolitical uncertainty, weaker hiring trends and tighter migration policies in major destinations, especially Canada and the United Kingdom.
“US remains the leading magnet, increasing its share by 2.4 pp overall, and 3.3 pp among STEM talent. UAE attracted 178,000 highly skilled professionals in 2025, now top three for STEM, AI, and highly skilled talent,” the report said.
“The UAE ranked among the top three destinations for overall, STEM, and AI talent — marking a remarkable global ascent, with Saudi Arabia following closely,” it added.
The report said countries with strong hiring ecosystems, flexible migration policies and robust education pipelines will be best positioned to secure long-term economic advantage. (Source: IANS)
