AI boom: 1 qualified engineer for every 10 open GenAI roles, says Teamlease Report

New Delhi: India AI market is on the cusp of hyper-growth phase, seen at USD 28.8 billion by 2025 but faces severe talent crunch with only one qualified engineer available for every 10 open GenAI roles, a report by TeamLease Digital said on Thursday.

As per the report, the most in-demand capabilities are specified prompt engineering, LLM safety and tuning, AI orchestration, agent design, simulation governance, and AI compliance and risk ops are among increasingly sought-after AI skills.

The report revealed that Generative AI Engineering and MLOps roles (where ML stands for machine learning) in Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are setting new benchmarks, with senior talent earning Rs 58–60 lakh per annum.

Overall, it highlighted how India’s digital economy is experiencing a rapid surge in AI, cloud job demand, setting new salary benchmarks and intensifying talent shortages.

Cybersecurity and data engineering roles in GCCs are expected to witness steady salary growth moving from Rs 28 to Rs 33.5 LPA and from Rs 23 to Rs 27 LPA, respectively, from FY25 to FY27.

"In the tech roles in the non-tech sector, IT support and legacy systems maintenance are stagnating at Rs 12 LPA, indicating a gradual shift toward cloud-native and outsourced service models," the report said.

According to the TeamLease Digital report, India’s AI market is entering a hyper-growth phase, projected to reach USD 28.8 billion by 2025 at a 45 per cent compounded growth, with AI now central to enterprise value creation.

And yet this growth comes with a severe talent shortage, and "for every 10 open GenAI roles, only one qualified engineer is available".

By 2026, the AI talent gap is expected to reach 53 per cent, while cloud computing is projected to face a 55-60 per cent demand-supply mismatch.

Without scaled-upskilling initiatives, enterprise ambitions risk being constrained, the report warned.

AI adoption, as per the report, is expected to reshape job markets significantly, with up to 40 per cent of global roles expected to be impacted, particularly in IT services, customer experience, BFSI, and healthcare.

Hence, enterprises are prioritising AI-first learning models, digital literacy and cross-functional collaboration to ensure market-ready talent pipelines.

GCCs - chugging as engines of employment and skills transformation in India's digital economy - are spearheading job creation, it noted.

TeamLease Digital’s report highlights that GCCs will contribute over 22–25 per cent of net new white-collar tech jobs in 2025, led by demand in AI and cloud computing.

Of the 4.7 million new tech jobs projected by 2027, a sizable chunk (of over 1.2 million) will be generated by GCCs, particularly in GenAI and engineering research and development.

"GCC hiring is expanding beyond metros, with 1,30,000–1,40,000 fresh graduates expected to be recruited in FY25; a move driven by outreach to Tier-2 and Tier-3 engineering campuses. Diversity is also gaining momentum, with women representing 40 per cent of the workforce in the top 20 GCCs, 1.5-times the industry average," as per the report.

By 2027, India is expected to host over 2,100 plus GCCs, employing three million professionals, with 800 new centres being established.