The 2025 Mahakumbh, is a massive religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh, Prayagraj, India. The Mahakumbh Mela, which began on January 13th and concludes on February 26th, is expected to draw over 450 million devotees to take part in bathing rituals and festivities. To manage this huge crowd and locate missing persons, authorities are implementing a system that combines AI (artificial intelligence) and facial recognition.

This comprehensive system involves several AI-enabled cameras across the event site. These cameras will capture pictures of every individual in the crowd. AI algorithms will analyse captured images in real-time to identify persons.

If some person goes missing on the event site, AI will scan the live camera feeds to locate him/her rapidly. This will significantly accelerate the search process.

The senior police officer explained, “Once a relative reports a missing person at any of the designated counters, AI tools will be used to generate digital images of the missing individuals, which will then be used to scan the crowds via thousands of cameras”.

This AI-enabled system is crucial in densely populated Mahakumbh as traditional search methods are not only time-consuming but also very challenging.

Furthermore, AI systems will also monitor the crowd’s density and movement, which can help prevent stampedes and other risks. By monitoring the crowd patterns, authorities can identify potential hurdles and take measures to keep pilgrims safe.

AI and facial recognition implementation at Mahakumbh showcase a significant advancement in crowd management and tracking missing persons.

By leveraging these advanced tools, authorities will provide a safer and more efficient experience to millions of pilgrims at Mahakumbh.

Source:

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/facial-recognition-ai-how-authorities-are-managing-crowds-at-mahakumbh-101736941836349.html

Boston Consulting Group’s latest AI Radar report stated that ‘with 80% of Indian firms prioritising AI (artificial intelligence) exceeding the global average of 75%, the country is emerging as a frontrunner in the adoption of this technology.

The study revealed significant AI investments in India, positioning the country among the top global investors in the technology. 75% of companies are allocating up to $25 million and 16% are planning to spend $26 to $50 million by 2025.

India has surpassed several developed countries in planned AI investments for 2025. While AI investment in Japan is 53%, in Singapore 63%, and in the United States 59%, India surpassed its global peers with 75%.

Despite, significant investments, India is facing a critical skills gap. Only 26% of companies have trained their workforce on GenAI/AI tools lagging behind Japan (38%) and Singapore (44%). As AI investment rises in 2025, addressing the skills shortage requires urgent attention.

Nipun Kalra, MD & Partner, BCG India, and India Leader said “As learning and development agendas evolve, companies are actively working to upskill their employees on scaling use cases and enabling thinking functions to conceptualise new applications,”.

While concerns about AI job losses are prevalent, only 7% of global executives expect job cuts due to AI automation.

Kalra said, “Most CXOs are focused on augmenting existing workforces rather than replacement. The conversation is centred around making functions 30-50% more productive and enabling employees to do more with the same resources”.

While this report has highlighted India’s significant investments and strong strategic focus on AI, addressing the skills gap is critical for the country to fully capitalise on AI’s potential.

Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/life/technology-80-indian-firms-mark-ai-as-core-priority-surpassing-global-average-but-lag-in-workforce-readiness-bcg-study-3716373/

A recent EY (Ernst & Young) report forecasts that AI (artificial intelligence) will impact 38 million jobs in India by 2030. This will contribute to a 2.61% productivity gain in the country’s economy. This report emphasises that the adoption of generative AI in the unorganised sector has the potential to boost additional productivity by 2.82%.

This EY report indicates that 24% of tasks are automable across the industries. Additionally, 42% productivity boost, freeing up 8-10 hours per week for workers. This will lead to significant productivity gains in the service sector due to higher labour share.

EY’s analysis of over 10,000 tasks across industries indicates that software development and call centre management will have substantial productivity gains of 60% and 80% respectively.

AI adoption is highest in content development and distribution by 45%, customer service by 44% and sales/marketing by 41%. Whereas, IT/ITeS can expect a 19% productivity gain, healthcare by 13%, banking/insurance by 8-9%, and pharma and auto by 2% due to lower labour intensity.

Rajiv Memani, Chairman and CEO, of EY India, says, “GenAI is transforming India’s economic landscape by unlocking unprecedented opportunities across sectors. This revolution will fundamentally reshape jobs, driving productivity and innovation. Building talent pipelines and prioritising upskilling must be at the forefront of every organisation. By fostering public-private collaborations and investing in talent development, India can also become a global hub for AI skilled talent.”

While the potential of AI is vast, only 15% of enterprises have implemented GenAI and 11% are still working on deploying it. Furthermore, only 3% of enterprises in India are ready for AI deployments and 23% lack data readiness.

Source: https://www.business-standard.com/technology/tech-news/ai-set-to-reshape-38-mn-jobs-in-india-by-2030-boost-productivity-ey-125011400955_1.html

According to the Bosch Tech Compass 2025 report, India is emerging as a global leader in AI (artificial intelligence) led education. More than 50% of the country’s population is pursuing self-education in AI-related skills. This means India has outranked other surveyed nations.

Bosch’s fourth annual Tech Compass report highlights the readiness of the country to embrace AI in education, work, and even daily life. 57% of people in India are getting AI training from employers, surpassing Germany and other European countries.

Guruprasad Mudlapur, president of the Bosch Group in India and managing director, Bosch Limited said “ “Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we work. This year’s report emphasises the accelerating need for AI skills at the workplace and how we can harness it for greater productivity and success. At Bosch, we recognise the opportunities AI offers and are integrating it responsibly, thereby staying committed to fostering AI literacy and deployment,”

The Bocsh Tech Compass Survey 2025 was undertaken in seven key countries India, Brazil, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

More than 63% of people think that AI should be an independent subject in schools. Additionally, 60% of Indians expect the government to take AI education initiatives to create talent ready for an AI-driven future.

Source:

https://www.medianews4u.com/india-emerges-as-global-leader-in-ai-education-bosch-tech-compass-2025/

The Salesforce India CEO, Arundhati Bhattacharya believes that India is well positioned for the adoption of AI (artificial intelligence) agents.  This viewpoint is supported by the research of Deloitte which ranked India as the first country in generative AI technology adoption across the Asia Pacific region. In addition, a recent BCG study says that India dominates AI adoption in the world which says 26% of global organisations leverage AI, and 30% of Indian enterprises utilise this technology.

Bhattacharya said “India’s startup ecosystem, being the third largest in the world, is uniquely positioned to address challenges at a billion-plus scale. The progress we’re seeing with agentic AI is phenomenal, even though companies are just starting to dip their toes into it,”

Salesforce Ventures, a $1 billion investor in AI startups globally, believes India is poised for significant growth in agentic AI applications. “Companies here are proactive, but they’re taking time to align their business needs with the right data sources and compliance measures,” she remarked.

Bhattacharya said that a substantial number of Indian companies are currently participating in Agentforce 2.0 pilot programs.

“It’s been very good, the kind of reactions we have got. We are running pilots with a very large number of companies. The fact remains that it’s been very exciting” she said.

“Agentforce 2.0, introduced last September, provides a wide array of pre-built skills that significantly simplify the process of customising and deploying AI agents across Salesforce, Slack, Tableau, and partner applications available on AppExchange.

Bhattacharya said, “We are just three or four months out from there, and the progress is phenomenal. I am really enthused about it.”

Source:

https://analyticsindiamag.com/ai-news-updates/indian-startups-will-define-the-future-of-agentic-ai-says-salesforce-india-ceo/

Prime Minister Narendra Singh Modi has been actively engaging with top tech leaders to drive India’s AI (artificial intelligence) ambition forward. He recently met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, and former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka to boost India’s AI push.

These power discussions have been instrumental in shaping the country’s AI strategy and attracting significant investment from global tech leaders.

Recently, Microsoft announced plans to invest $3 billion in India and train 10 million people to equip them with AI skills by 2030.

PM’s meeting with Vishal Sikka and Aravind Srinivas highlighted the country’s determination to take a leading role in artificial intelligence. These discussions led to the exploration of applications and evolution of AI, focussing more on responsible development and deployment of this technology.

There are currently 706 AI tech companies in India, some of which provide artificial intelligence as a service and others as an infrastructure.

Chief technology officer at Recur Club, Anirudh Bhardwaj said, “With the IndiaAI mission, a lot of investment is going to get into infrastructure, computing, and research and innovation. The ease of access to computers will help fin-tech companies like us to leverage AI securely by means of local LLMs as we aim towards becoming an AI native debt marketplace.”

These developments showcase India’s strong commitment to AI and the country’s potential to become a global leader in this landscape.

Source: https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/india-s-ai-push-over-700-startups-2-27-bn-raised-microsoft-invests-big-125010800862_1.html