TCS, Wipro, Tech Mahindra: As AI projects take centrestage, Indian IT companies bet big on employee skilling

Indian IT services companies are betting big on training their staff on artificial intelligence as interest around generative AI gears up. This includes significant investments in skilling and collaboration with companies like Microsoft, Google, and others to upskill the IT company’s staff on the big tech players' AI suite. 

The latest in this trend has been Tech Mahindra. The company’s  chief people officer and head of marketing, Harshvendra Soin, announced that the company has trained 8000 employees in AI in the first quarter of GY 2023-24.

“We continue to invest in learning development of employees to create a future-proof and resilient talent pool. We have trained and upskilled around 8,000 employees in generative AI and other AI platforms in the June 2023 quarter,” the CPO noted.

Similar announcements were made by TCS last month. The IT services company announced that they plan on collaborating with Microsoft to train 25,000 employees on the big tech’s AI suite.

The IT services company noted in an announcement, “TCS is a member of Microsoft’s AI Council, has earned a Partner Designation in Data and AI, and has obtained Microsoft specializations in AI and machine learning on Azure and analytics on Azure. TCS Microsoft Business Unit now plans to get 25,000 associates trained and certified on Azure Open AI to help clients accelerate their adoption of this powerful new technology.”

TCS also extended its partnership with Google to train its staff on Google Clouds’s Generative AI suite.

Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate Vice President, Global Partner Ecosystems and Channels at Google Cloud, noted, “TCS’ expertise in business transformation and its commitment to train thousands of people on Google Cloud Generative AI will be important assets for businesses accelerating their generative AI adoption.”

So far, the IT major has already trained 50,000 associates in basics of AI, the company noted in a regulatory filing.

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Wipro also extended its partnership with Google Cloud to equip 20,000 employees with AI skills.

“Wipro will train 20,000 associates on Google Cloud’s generative AI technologies to help clients realize the full potential of AI and drive secure, AI-led transformations at scale,” Wipro said.

The company also noted in an exchange filing that they would be investing over $1 billion in AI over the next three years.

HCLTech also joined this AI upskilling bandwagon. The company announced that it would be training 10,000 employees on Microsoft’s AI suite and 18,000 employees on Google’s AI suite.

This trend in investment in employee skilling at IT companies comes at the back of peaked  interest in generative AI among clients in the sector.

K Krithivasan, the CEO of TCS, said during the company’s Q1 FY24 earnings call, “The flavor of the quarter was generative AI. In every conversation I have had with the clients over the last three months, this has unfailingly come up.”

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Moreover, in contrast to the cuts in overall spending by clients of Indian IT companies, management commentary is of the tune that clients are spending on integrating AI in their operations.

HCLTech’s C Vijaykumar said during the latest earnings call, “In a very, very short few weeks, we have 140 AI projects, some of them pilots, some of them implementation.”

Infosys’ CEO, Salil Parekh, reported a similar trend at his company. During the earnings call for the June ended quarter, he noted that Infosys was working on 80 generative AI projects. The company also revealed that they have bagged a deal worth $2 billion from an undisclosed client to integrate AI in their operations.

Despite the current interest in AI, it could take the end of this fiscal to understand the monetary impact of AI deals in the Indian IT sector. Furthermore, it could take some time to gauge how effective and crucial AI integration with operations is for several industries, which would in turn impact the AI deal flow in the future. 

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