Right training will make youth in India’s small towns more employable: IBM India head

IBM MD Sandip Patel highlights the potential of youth in small towns for tech jobs through training and AI adoption.

The right kind of training will make the youth from India’s small towns more employable by the tech industry, said Sandip Patel, MD, India and South Asia, IBM.

Commenting on India’s strengths as a large talent base during a media interaction, Mr. Patel said, ‘‘Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities and towns have a large number of young people with inherent capabilities and training can easily make them fit for technical job roles.’‘

Mr. Patel said, IBM has been conducting several skilling and training programmes for young people in small towns and cities and was also hiring them.

‘’We find some amazing talent in small towns and cities. With the right kind of training, although some of them don’t even have formal college education, they become valuable talent,’‘ he said.

According to him, several IBM job roles don’t even require a college degree. For instance, he said, IBM has taught several young girls in Nagaland how to make drones and also trained them in AI.

Speaking on the adoption of artificial intelligence in the country, he said India was witnessing a digital renaissance as the country has been a leader in tech and AI adoption.

‘’Indian enterprises are outshining their global counterparts in AI deployment and adoption,’‘ he said, quoting recent data released by IBM’s AI adoption index. Some 59% of Indian enterprises, highest across all markets worldwide, were deploying AI in some form or the other, he said, delivering the keynote at IBM Think 2024, the company’s flagship event in Mumbai.