The top four Indian IT firms collectively trained over 7.75 lakh employees in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) capability by the end of the financial year 2023-24. The focus of these companies on reskilling and upskilling their employees has resulted in such a significant number of skilled workers.

An analysis of the GenAI-trained workforce numbers of the top four Indian IT firms shows that by the end of FY24, the top three—Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro—collectively trained around 775,000 employees in GenAI skills.

This figure is substantially higher than what the IT industry body Nasscom had predicted in its Strategic Review of 2023. The report stated that over 6.5 lakh employees were being trained in GenAI skills in 2023-24. The report was released in February 2024.

Of the top four, TCS, the country’s largest IT services company, leads the group, having trained around 300,000 employees in GenAI skills. Milind Lakkad, chief human resources officer (CHRO) at TCS, said in an earlier interview: “AI will be the very fabric of the company. We are ensuring that everybody in the organisation has foundational skills, and then we build expertise on it.”

Of these, the Bengaluru-headquartered firm has trained 195,000 employees in basic GenAI fundamentals, over 18,000 at a foundational level, about 4,000 at an associate level, and 2,200 at an advanced level, according to official data from the company.

“To date, over 220,000 of our employees have completed training on AI fundamentals and the responsible use of AI,” Subha Tatavarti, chief technology officer (CTO) at Wipro, told Business Standard in a recent interaction.

Noida-based HCLTech did not share the exact data on the number of people trained in GenAI to date, but said it plans to equip 50,000 employees with GenAI skills in FY25.

“By this financial year, we’ll have about 50,000 people fully trained to leverage generative AI. We’re also putting a lot of focus on GenAI developers and people who can really handle all the architecture and programming. I think skill is also equally important to drive growth in this segment. We are focused on both,” said C Vijayakumar, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) at HCLTech, in a post-result interaction with Business Standard last week.

LTIMindtree, the fifth-largest IT services player, has so far trained over 20,000 employees in GenAI capabilities.

The focus on skilling is also due to the increasing amount of work in the GenAI space. Though it is yet to contribute significantly to revenues, GenAI remains the top priority for clients.

*Source: company reports

*Source: FY24 results of IT firms

First Published: May 06 2024 | 8:00 PM IST