Satya Nadella announces Microsoft’s investment will provide 2 million people in India with AI skilling opportunities by 2025 through its ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA initiative
Our Bureau
Bengaluru/Mumbai
Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella, who was in India this week, highlighted the pivotal role of the country’s developer community in building cutting-edge products and solutions that solve challenges for the nation and can be deployed around the world. In an address to 1,100 developers and technology leaders at the Microsoft AI Tour in Bengaluru on Thursday, Nadella spoke about the impact Indian developers are making in accelerating AI innovation globally.
“This next generation of AI is changing how and what developers build everywhere, including in India,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “It’s fantastic to see how India’s developer community is applying our technology and tools to build the future for India and the world,” Nadella said.
Further, he said India is the fastest-growing market on GitHub, a Microsoft-owned software collaboration and innovation platform. About 13.2 million developers are using the platform. It is expected to overtake the US as the largest developer community on GitHub by 2027. India also has the second-highest number of generative AI projects on GitHub after the US.
Nadella also said that Microsoft will expand its Code; Without Barriers program to India this month, as the company aims to democratize access to tech skills nationwide.
The program was launched in 2021 across nine Asia Pacific (APAC) countries to help close the gender gap in the region’s fast-growing cloud, AI, and digital technology sectors. The program provides support, training, and networking opportunities for female developers and coders, and those in other technical roles to contribute to inclusive economic growth, encourage innovation, and reflect the region’s social makeup. Through Code; Without Barriers, Microsoft will provide skilling and certification to 75,000 women developers in India in 2024.
In a major announcement, Nadella announced Microsoft’s new skilling investment in India to empower people and organizations to thrive in the AI era. The investment will see Microsoft provide 2 million people in India with AI skilling opportunities by 2025 through its ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA initiative.
The ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA initiative will focus on three key areas to create AI fluency – Equipping India’s future workforce, upskilling government officials in AI and working to build the AI capability of nonprofit organizations.
To deliver ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA, Microsoft will partner with India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and 10 state governments to provide basic and advanced training in AI to 500,000 students and job seekers in 100 rural vocational education institutions and training centers.
In addition, Microsoft will provide in-depth AI technical skills training for 100,000 young women through 5,000 trainers at higher education institutions in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
As part of the initiative, Microsoft will raise awareness of responsible AI use and AI-enabled careers for 400,000 students in schools in remote and tribal regions, enabling them to be next-generation AI innovators, among others.
About Microsoft, the global technology company’s entities have over 23,000 employees in India who are engaged in sales and marketing, research, development, customer support, and industry solutions across 10 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, and Pune.
According to Microsoft’s recent Work Trend Index, 90 percent of Indian leaders say the people they hire will need new skills to prepare them for the growth of AI. Furthermore, 78 percent of Indian workers say they don’t have the right AI capabilities to complete their current work.
In addition, Microsoft will provide in-depth AI technical skills training for 100,000 young women through 5,000 trainers at higher education institutions in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
As part of the initiative, Microsoft will raise awareness of responsible AI use and AI-enabled careers for 400,000 students in schools in remote and tribal regions, enabling them to be next-generation AI innovators.
Microsoft will strengthen its partnership with India’s National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building, equipping 250,000 government officers with essential knowledge of generative AI and increasing their AI fluency.
It will enable 2,500 nonprofits and nongovernment organizations to leverage AI skilling resources and technologies to further train 750,000 learners – including underserved youths, young women, and jobseekers – in AI fluency and technical skills.
Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local datacenters to accelerate digital transformation across Indian startups, businesses, and government organizations.
