As 2047, the centenary of India’s century of Independence draws closer, the dream of a fully developed economy and sustainable, inclusive growth seems to be taking shape. What role could artificial intelligence, or AI, play in this India?
The poster child of technology for the past decade and becoming increasingly accessible to all, AI holds the promise of new economic opportunities, the potential to improve welfare services in healthcare and education for every Indian, and the allure of India emerging as the provider of AI to the world.
This could be a natural progression from India’s current dominance worldwide in the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector.
A cornerstone of the economy, the sector employed over 5.4 million people in 2022-23 and has captured more than 30% of the global outsourced BPM market. Likewise, digital technologies have unlocked a booming start-up and digital business ecosystem in India. The country’s unique national-scale digital infrastructure has paved the way for greatly inclusive financial services.
AI has already carved out its presence as an important theme in global forums, boardroom discussions, and political discourse.
It is enabling higher efficiencies in manufacturing for better yield, throughput, and optimal energy use. It is enabling the right products to be present at the right place and showcased to customers most likely to be interested in them.
AI models are aiding research and development (R&D) for precision in agriculture, weather forecasting (and climate change), and drug discovery.
The emergence of Generative AI (Gen AI) opens new frontiers—with a call for purposeful innovation across public and private sectors, and in academia, as well as persistent efforts to deploy technology at scale.
A McKinsey research estimates that Gen AI by itself could create $2.6-4.4 trillion in value across industries.
India has the capacity to raise its global share in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market—from 1% to 6%—through strategic steps such as cultivating a digitally skilled workforce, fostering a robust research and development ecosystem, and scaling up domestic SaaS companies.
AI can be an important source of livelihood for much of India’s working-age population, which forms more than 60% of the country’s total population. Globally, it is estimated that 250-280 million new jobs could be created from the impact of rising incomes on consumer goods alone, with up to an additional 50-85 million jobs generated from higher spending in health and education.
Addressing the skill gap between the 2.1 million science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates who enter India’s workforce each year and specialised AI capabilities will be key to reaping the benefits of AI. Upskilling efforts could cover high-growth digital areas such as AI and machine learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), product management, data management, and user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design. Targeted training programmes and curriculum revisions that integrate AI fundamentals will become crucial.
While AI could create jobs, India must also be alert to the need to protect livelihoods as jobs evolve—the country has a large share of the global workforce in customer support, marketing, design, and technology services—all areas where Gen AI can substitute or accelerate tasks at relatively cheaper costs.
Above and beyond talent, India is well positioned to utilise AI to innovate in delivering social services to every citizen.
Gen AI-enabled systems could complement human educational instructors to scale up education access for tens of thousands of learners across levels, from the school level right up to upskilling professionals in high-growth digital themes and capabilities. Similarly, in the domain of healthcare, Gen AI-enabled systems could emerge as powerful assistants to human healthcare providers for faster, widespread healthcare access.
Digital pedagogical methods could help supplement the number of healthcare professionals, telehealth-enabled diagnostics could take healthcare to underserved communities, and India’s health stack could see more digitally-enabled health centres open across the country under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.
The possibilities are immense. Policymakers, industry, and academia could collaborate on a road map for India’s use of AI on the path to 2047.
With the right enablers for innovation, access to technology and capability building, and incentives for accelerating solutions for social good, India can make significant progress towards the vision of becoming a fully developed, inclusive economy. As India reaches a century on gaining independence, artificial intelligence could be a lighthouse of the use of technology for holistic national development.
The author is Partner, McKinsey & Company. Views are personal