Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella kicked off his visit to India today by reinforcing the company’s commitment to supporting India’s transformation into an AI-first nation. The commitment aligns with India’s vision of becoming self-reliant by fostering a skilled AI workforce and empowering every sector and industry to transform with AI. 

Nadella commented at the Microsoft CEO Connection event in Mumbai on Wednesday, which top business leaders and decision-makers attended. During his address, Nadella announced that Microsoft will provide 2 million people in India with AI skilling opportunities by 2025 through its new ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA initiative. This will help close skills gaps across the nation and strengthen India’s ability to thrive in AI. 

“India is uniquely positioned to make the promise of AI a reality,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “We are committed to partnering broadly across the public and private sector to help close the nation’s AI skills gap and create new opportunities throughout the country.” 

Nadella highlighted how Microsoft Copilot and the company’s other AI solutions drive measurable productivity gains for people and organizations by helping them complete work faster and with superior quality. For instance, recent research on early users of Copilot for Microsoft 365 found that they were 29 per cent faster in a series of tasks, including searching, writing, and summarizing. 

Many organizations in India are already boosting their productivity and accelerating innovation using Copilot for Microsoft 365 and GitHub Copilot. Organizations in India are seeing an average US$3.86 return for every US dollar spent on AI projects, and more than 150 organizations are already innovating with Azure OpenAI Service across industries such as agriculture, aviation, e-commerce, and fast-moving consumer goods. 

Source: Microsoft