By Chhavi Banswal, Director, Policy Advocacy & Communications at Stratink Consulting, and Reshaping Work Fellow.
This blog is produced as a part of the Reshaping Work Fellowship Programme. The opinions and views expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Reshaping Work or organisations that have supported the programme.
Close on the heels of Google’s plans to set up its $ 6 billion data centre in India, Open AI revealed it is in conversation to bring Stargate to the subcontinent. In fact, investments in the Indian data centre market are projected to exceed $100 billion by 2027. However, what may seem like a gold rush to the global tech giants, should perhaps sound the alarm bells for the subcontinent — the Indian labour force is not ready for this AI surge. A mere 38% of Indian households have digital literacy. Even more disquieting is the low computer literacy rate at 24.7% for individuals aged 15 and above. One may argue that the urban digital literacy rate is as high as 61%. However, only 37% of India’s population is urban, which means, a majority of the people in one of the largest digital centre markets in the world will perhaps not even have access to the direct jobs thus created, for the lack of skills.
The picture becomes even more bleak when we look at the larger context of AI adoption in the country, moving beyond just data centres.
A two-pronged problem
As one of the fastest emerging markets for AI, India is projected to have more than 2.3 million job openings in the sector by 2027. The country’s talent pool, meanwhile, is expected to grow to around 1.2 million, falling short by a million. This brings us to the elephant in the room — just reskilling and upskilling will not be enough. India needs to ramp up its efforts to ensure consistent fresh infusion of talent into the AI labour market.
Need for Ground-up Approach
There is a need to look at AI skill development from a broader perspective that accounts for technological diffusion across sectors. Once the AI adoption rate in the country accelerates, it will reach traditional sectors like agriculture, raising a critical question — will the workforce be ready to leverage this integration?
The only plausible solution is accelerated interventions at fundamental, grassroots level to raise digital literacy from foundational to intermediate and advanced skills. Intermediate digital literacy goes beyond fundamental operations like using a mobile phone to communicate to include complex tasks such as online financial transactions. Meanwhile, advanced skills take it a step further, with the ability to seek relevant information online, navigate the Internet, etc.
While some private sector partnerships to boost AI adoption in schools, like OpenAI’s learning accelerator initiative, have been introduced, these may still focus at urban level, where basic digital literacy skills already exist.
In the larger scheme of things, focussed digital literacy programmes through public-private partnerships, specifically designed around AI adoption in rural areas can help scale technological integration. Accelerator programmes that cater to the geographical and sectoral needs of the population will facilitate smoother transition to AI tools. Take for instance, agriculture-intensive areas, where farmers currently rely on local information centres for support on crop rotation, soil health etc, would benefit immensely from programmes designed around Small Language Models (SLMs) to achieve better outcomes in less time.
Moreover, there is incentive for private players too, creating market access in untapped geographies and consolidating their position through product familiarisation.
Thus, it is not just the direct or indirect jobs that AI will create which will impact the future of work. Like any technology, AI has to be inclusive and not just sustainable. Embracing the AI revolution in its full bloom, without preparing the rest of the population with the requisite digital skills is really just putting the cart before the horse.
Learning from the world and for the world
Not too different from India, many Global South nations find themselves in this position — while they must embrace AI to keep up with the major economies, at the same time, their population’s digital literacy remains low.
While the Indian government has already doubled down on its efforts through the National Digital Literacy Mission and expanding Technical and Vocational Education and Training Centres (TVETC), it could perhaps also take a leaf from Rwanda’s playbook. The African nation has succeeded in increasing its digital literacy from 8% in 2017 to 75.2% in 2024. Granted, the two countries have vastly different populations, but the efficacy of Rwanda’s interventions can nevertheless serve as a blueprint.
For instance, the Digital Ambassadors Programme, where youth are recruited to train citizens in digital skills, especially in rural communities, has been pivotal to surpassing their digital literacy targets. Moreover, the country effectively mobilised international partnerships with the European Union through Amplifying Digital Opportunities in Cross-border Trade Programme to further accelerate its digital literacy efforts.
Conclusion
Only preparing for the AI-centric jobs within the tech industry would be a shot in the dark, hoping the rest of the population somehow catches up when AI reaches their doorstep. More importantly, conversations focussed on just transition inadvertently leave out those who are already two-steps behind in this digitalised world. Widening the outlook towards AI’s impact on the future of work across all sectors will be an opportunity for broad-based digital transformation to truly harness the AI wave. Strategic skill development with a ground-up approach can ensure the AI wave is not just sustainable but inclusive as well.