A recent study conducted by the Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CDSA) at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), a premier global management Institute and BCG X, the AI and Digital Transformation unit of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals that India will require almost around 30,000 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) specialists in the next five years.

The report titled ‘AI in India - A Strategic Necessity’ elaborates on the AI readiness levels of Indian businesses, stating that India only has 4.5 per cent of the whole world’s AI professionals, and the talent crunch is expected to get more severe.

The report findings are developed after observing 130 companies from the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI), Consumer Goods (CG), and Industrial Goods (IG) sectors, along with various interviews and surveys conducted on CXO of large-sized, medium, to small organisations. The study objectively and holistically measures the ability of a company to leverage AI to drive its strategic objectives and thereby improve its financial and operational performance.

The study predicted that the top 500 Indian companies would need at least one million hours of proper training in upskilling mid and senior-level management on the business aspects of AI, digital transformation and agile ways of working. The report said, “Companies cannot assume that benefits of AI will accrue to them in due course. Companies have a choice to prioritise AI and adopt it or perish.” It mentioned two out of three Indian companies are ‘laggards’ regarding AI adoption and maturity.

While releasing the study, Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director of IIMA, said, “India is poised to enter into a digital revolution where successful AI adoption by our industry can be a crucial determinant of India’s competitiveness globally.”

He also opined that the successful adoption of AI/ML in India could add up to 1.4 percentage points annually to India’s real GDP growth and is expected to add ₹1.5 to 2.5 trillion in incremental pre-tax profit over five years for the top 500 Indian companies alone.