India well-positioned to become global hub for AI-native talent: Nasscom

Bengaluru : India has the foundation to emerge as a global hub for AI-native technology talent, but unlocking this potential will require a stronger focus on engineering fundamentals, AI judgment, and technical depth, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report by Nasscom, titled “The State of AI-Native Talent in India: Decoding the Readiness of India’s Early-Career Technology Workforce,” introduces the Nasscom AI-Native Talent Index, a structured industry benchmark designed to measure AI-native capabilities among India’s early-career technology workforce.

According to the study, nearly 70 per cent of India’s early-career technology talent is AI-proficient, while around 23 per cent qualifies as AI-native.

The findings suggest that young professionals are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence into their work, learning, and decision-making processes, but there remains significant scope to strengthen engineering judgment, AI orchestration capabilities, and technical expertise.

Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Nasscom, said India is uniquely positioned to become a global centre for AI-native technology talent but cautioned that AI skills alone do not make a workforce AI-native.

“India is uniquely positioned to emerge as a global hub for AI-native technology talent. It is important to keep in mind that AI skills penetration is not the same as being AI-native. Without a rigorous measurement framework such as the AI-Native Talent Index, followed by action, India risks scaling a workforce that is AI-reliant rather than AI-native,” she said.

“Academia must strengthen fundamentals, while industry must redesign onboarding and mentorship to ensure that the decline of routine work does not lead to a decline in deep engineering expertise,” Gupta added.

The report noted that while AI is significantly improving productivity, accelerating learning, and enhancing workplace capabilities, organisations and educational institutions must consciously create opportunities for engineers to develop deep technical understanding, independent problem-solving skills, and engineering judgment that were traditionally built through hands-on experience.

Calling for a joint effort between academia and industry, the study recommends that educational institutions move beyond conventional coding education to strengthen engineering fundamentals, domain expertise, and assessment methods.

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