AI in India to drive productivity and quality: BCGX
BCGX maintained that India should follow a policy of “sovereignty by design” with policies that protect data along with bringing benefits for everyone.
AI in India will drive productivity, quality, and role redesign in the near term rather than mass unemployment, but the country must pursue a "sovereign by design" approach, maintaining control over its data and capabilities while staying globally integrated to ensure AI benefits everyone, according to BCGX.
India's talent base is a real advantage, with 13% of the global AI talent pool as new centres of influence emerge beyond AI superpowers US and China, top officials of BCGX, the AI, digital and innovation division of global consulting firm BCG, told PTI in an emailed interview.
"The Asia-Pacific region is often described as being ahead of the curve in AI adoption, for example, a recent BCG report found that 92% of employees in India use AI at least several times a week," Sylvain Duranto, Global Leader BCGX, said, referring to how AI has gained traction in India.
On India's AI talent pool, Duranto said, "Beyond the AI superpowers of the US and China, new centres of influence are emerging. With a population of 1.4 billion, and (India has) 13 per cent of the global AI talent pool".
Elaborating, BCGX India Leader Nipun Kalra said, "BCG-sized estimates put India's AI talent pool at 6,00,000 today, projected to exceed 1.25 million by 2027, with an AI skill penetration factor of 3.09 (highest among G20/OECD)".
However, he said, "With over 2,000 AI startups, India is only second to the US, but lags in AI patents with less than 1 per cent patents from India".
India needs to solve for AI adoption formally by the workforce with scaled pilots that are enforced organisationally to drive success, Kalra added.
When asked about the impact of jobs in India, he said, "The near-term story in India is productivity and quality uplift-paired with role redesign more than mass displacement".
Citing BCG's executive survey, he said 64% expect 'AI and humans working side by side', and fewer than 10% expect a net headcount decrease due to AI automation.
Yet, Kalra said, toil tasks—repetitive, rule-based activities will increasingly be automated, while 'reasoning tasks' such as analysis, synthesis, decision support will be augmented through AI copilots.
Edited by Jyoti Narayan