New Delhi, February 17 Amid the tech stock meltdown due to AI, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday advised the Indian IT industry to focus on reskilling and upskilling the workforce and talent pool.
"Whenever any technology transition happens, it has to be managed jointly by the industry, academia, and the government," the minister said.
The government is currently working with industry and academia on three parallel fronts – reskilling and upskilling the existing workforce, building a new talent pipeline, and ensuring that future generations are prepared for emerging technologies, Vaishnaw said.
He noted that more than 100 colleges are already participating in IT industry-led reskilling initiatives, while the Future Skills Programme, launched three years ago, has now been aligned with AI-based reskilling efforts.
In a briefing at the India AI Impact Summit, Vaishnaw said that the Education Ministry and AICTE are also revising course curricula to keep the talent pipeline updated and create new opportunities for youth.
"Our message to the IT industry is to focus on reskilling and upskilling the workforce and talent," the minister said.
Over the last few days and weeks, IT stocks have slumped sharply due to concerns that rapid advancements in AI could disrupt traditional services and reduce demand, wiping tens of billions off market value and dragging key indices lower as investors reassess growth prospects.
It is pertinent to mention here that the latest Economic Survey has flagged "looming uncertainties" and "asymmetries" in the evolving AI landscape, drawing attention to issues from the concentration of market power in the hands of a few large global frontier model builders to labor dynamics, and all the way to questions around the future of the Indian IT sector.
"It also raises a substantial question about the future of India's IT sector, as firms that once relied on India's comparative advantage to handle a bulk of their work may no longer need to do so."
This risks "hollowing out" India's core value proposition if adaptation lags.
"If the country is to sustain its competitive edge in IT, a comprehensive evolution is necessary, one that takes full advantage of the potential embedded in AI development and deployment," the survey said.
