Top 500 Indian companies would require at least one million hours of training in upskilling mid and senior level management on the business aspects of AI (artificial intelligence), digital transformation, agile ways of working and more, a joint study by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) and Boston Consulting Group ( BCG) has found. The report, titled 'AI in India – A Strategic Necessity', was released at a function in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
The 52-page report is the result of a collaboration between the Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at the IIMA and BCG X, the AI and Digital Transformation unit of the BCG. The BCG partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities.
The report stated that successful companies in the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) CG (Consumer Goods) and IG (Industrial Goods) sectors have achieved high AI maturity, positioning themselves at par with global benchmarks.
It observed that a significant leap has been the fact that 10 per cent of the organisations have transformed their AI capabilities in the last three years and these organisations come from across sizes.
Another important observation has been that most of the MSMEs are now able to leverage AI because of on-demand access to business software and the availability of services like digital payment gateways, fraud detection systems and CRM.
It further stated that India will require 25,000 to 30,000 advanced practitioners of AIML in top 500 companies in the next three to five years.
While AI would lead to an incremental pre-tax profit of Rs 1.5 to 2.5 trillion for the top 500 Indian companies, the report noted that India has only 4.5 per cent of the world’s AI professionals and the talent crunch will get only acute.
One of the other interesting findings of the report is that in consumer goods and industrial goods sectors, three out of the four companies are AI maturity laggards. Companies who strive for global competitiveness need to address their low AI maturity quickly, it added.
Speaking on the occasion, Professor Bharat Bhasker, director of IIMA, said India is poised to enter into a digital revolution where successful AI adoption by our industry can be a crucial determinant of India’s competitiveness globally.
Sumit Sarwagi, managing director and partner at the BCG, said investments into AI could deliver extraordinary returns but success hinges on deploying AI on scale.