India's GenAI Talent Gap Hits 53% as Only 16% of IT Professionals Hold AI Skills
A new report finds India's tech industry faces a 53% GenAI talent gap, with just 16% of IT professionals holding AI skills and cloud roles facing the widest shortfall.
India's technology sector is grappling with a pronounced shortage of AI-ready professionals, with the talent supply gap in Generative AI (GenAI) standing at roughly 53 per cent, even as only about 16 per cent of IT professionals possess AI skills.
A report by TeamLease Digital, based on an analysis of 37,000 technology and digital roles, found that the scarcity of specialised talent is reshaping hiring patterns and compensation across the industry. Cloud roles recorded the widest supply gap among four skill families studied, at 55-60 per cent, followed by GenAI at around 53 per cent. Demand for GenAI talent is projected to surpass 10 lakh roles by 2026.
The cybersecurity segment showed a narrower gap of 25-30 per cent, with the shortage there gradually easing.
Despite upskilling efforts that have touched around 20 lakh professionals, only about 3 lakh have acquired advanced AI skills, leaving the country's skills base limited.
The report categorises AI-related jobs into three tiers. AI-Core roles involve building and owning intelligent systems, such as GenAI and machine learning engineers. AI-Adjacent roles apply AI within established functions including data, cloud and cybersecurity engineering. AI-Support roles cover monitoring, validation and first-line resolution of AI-enabled operations.
These shortages are translating into salary premiums for AI-Core and other product-critical positions. A GenAI developer with 0-2 years of experience earns Rs 11.2 lakh per annum, rising to Rs 34.5 LPA at 6-8 years. A data engineer's pay climbs from Rs 9.1 LPA to Rs 29.6 LPA over the same span. By contrast, a technical support engineer earns Rs 5.2 LPA at 0-2 years and Rs 14.6 LPA at 6-8 years. At the 6-8 year mark, GenAI, ML and data science roles command around Rs 31-35 LPA, nearly twice that of AI-support roles.
Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, said using AI tools has become the baseline, while the market rewards the ability to build, run and govern AI in production. She noted that technical depth alone does not command the premium, which instead sits where proximity to the AI stack meets domain knowledge and human skills such as creativity and adaptability, especially as close to 39 per cent of core skills are expected to change by 2030.
The report also flagged pressure on entry-level absorption as revenue growth outpaces hiring. Of the 16 premium roles identified across AI, Data, Cloud & Platform and Cybersecurity, four were AI-Core and 12 were AI-Adjacent, with none from the AI-Support category.