According to Puneet Chandok, the President of Microsoft India and South Asia, the increase in technology expenditure in India is consistent and is a result of the rise in the uptake of AI across sectors. In a recent conversation with reporters, Chandok emphasized the strong performance of Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot which has already made itself the face of the entire wave of AI. He valued the importance of the company in talking about the digital evolution of the country. In that context, he said, “Copilot has become the verb for AI.”
India is one of the regions where Microsoft has been recording one of the fastest rates of growth and therefore such turning to digital and AI presents an exciting opportunity. For example, he pointed out that at first, the people who were targeted in India were skeptical about AI; now the impact is being felt and Microsoft is already producing applications in various sectors. Chandok observed that the company is still determined to innovate but in a responsible manner.
Chandok paid attention to Microsoft’s efforts to help advance the AI ecosystem in India through large scale skilling programs. The company’s Advantage India program seeks to achieve AI skills for 2 million people in the next two years and the Code Without Barriers program proposes certification of 75,000 women developers. Also, the Microsoft Micro Degree in AI program designed for administrative purposes has been introduced in collaboration with the Ministry of Skill Development in India enabling the AI skills development among employees within the country and promoting digital literacy.
Emphasizing the opportunities that come with the Indian market, Chandok spoke of the scale of opportunity and mentioned the presence of 60 million small and medium enterprises in the country and its dynamic startup industry ranked third in the world. Additionally, he mentioned the growing number of developers on the platform GitHub, stating that India that comes second to the USA in GitHub users and it will soon outdo the USA.
In line with its belief in inclusiveness, the company is implementing AI to eliminate the digital divide by offering services in various Indian languages. This has served to broaden the appeal of digital tools to a wider audience, even those who are not proficient in English. Chandok also reinforced the point that any technology that has the potential to change the world must put security and accountability first, and this is what Microsoft does in every product that it makes.
During his recent trip to India, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella stressed on the importance attached to the initiative by the company. Nadella said that he would support India’s efforts to position itself as an AI-first economy by developing a skillful workforce and embedding AI in various industries.
Adhering to its ‘One Microsoft’ theme, the organization brings together its IDC, cloud and AI, and research units in order to execute its vision of bringing AI for everyone in India through safe and innovative digital solutions for the customers.
