Microsoft’s AI micro-degrees want to push next wave of tech talent in India

At a time when AI skills are becoming the new currency in the job market, India’s vocational ecosystem is witnessing a sharp shift. The arrival of AI micro-degrees in National Skill Training Institutes is pulling in students who once saw tech careers as out of reach. Their stories underline how AI is reshaping skilling in the country.

One of those stories belongs to 19-year-old Satyendra Kumar. Raised in Sitamarhi in Bihar, he excelled in both academics and cricket, topped his Navodaya school and dreamt of studying abroad. After those plans fell apart, he enrolled in a one-year micro-degree in AI Programming Assistant at NSTI Chennai, delivered by Microsoft and the Directorate General of Training. That decision restored his confidence and set him on a new path. Today he studies data science at IIT Madras and runs EdgeSphere Sports Intelligence, a startup that uses AI to spot sporting talent in small-town India.

Microsoft’s commitment to train 10 million Indians by 2030 is already changing the scale of skilling. According to the company, over 5.6 million people have been trained since January 2025. Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India and South Asia, says the company’s partnerships with the government are helping transform vocational education into a foundation for an AI-ready workforce.  "By combining India’s scale of talent with its strong digital foundation and by partnering with the Government of India, MSDE, and DGT, we are embedding AI learning into vocational institutions and communities nationwide," says Chandok.

India’s AI market is expanding fast, yet only 4.4 percent of young people have formal vocational or technical training. With the world’s demand for AI skills rising, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is weaving AI, data and cloud into the country’s 15,000-plus training institutes. This shift aligns with India’s push to make itself the AI talent capital of the world, strengthened by the fact that the country already leads in global AI skill penetration.