You have achieved remarkable AI literacy across the organization. How have you translated that into tangible skill-building, especially for non-technical employees?
We launched the AI for All initiative to make every employee, from HR and finance to legal and procurement, AI-literate. Birlasoft was one of the early adopters of Microsoft 365 Copilot in India. We started with 1,000 licenses for non-IT teams and partnered with Microsoft to deliver targeted training on prompt engineering and function-specific prompt libraries. For instance, HR teams received HR-centric prompts, while finance teams had their own sets.
We also organize monthly events, GenAI Day and Copilot Excitement Day to encourage experimentation, gamify adoption, and recognize top “prompt engineers.”
After six months, we began tracking “assisted hours,” a metric designed to measure productivity gains through AI. Once teams achieved proficiency, we expanded to another 1,000 licenses and introduced Copilot for Chat to all 12,500 employees, along with Copilot Studio, allowing them to build their own AI agents. This strategy not only upskilled employees but also made AI adoption measurable and scalable across the organization.
There has been much discussion about the proposed USD 100,000 work visa fee in the U.S. How could such a policy shift impact mid-tier IT firms like Birlasoft?
It is an evolving situation, and every day brings more clarity. What’s certain, however, is that the global landscape is shifting rapidly. While such policies pose challenges, they also open new opportunities. India today is the fourth-largest economy, on its way to becoming the third within a few years. With over 4,500 AI startups, 30 percent of which were founded in just the last three years, and a rapidly expanding data center ecosystem of over 200 facilities, the momentum is strong.
The government’s AI Mission, valued at over Rs 10,000 crore, and nationwide AI skilling initiatives have created a ready talent pool. Even our HR and finance teams now use AI tools daily. Rather than seeing this as a setback, I view it as an opportunity for India to retain and utilize its talent domestically, delivering global innovation from here. The potential to fix legacy tech debt and rewire global business processes is immense.
How do we absorb this influx of skilled professionals staying back in India or returning from abroad?
That’s a critical question, and I believe the definition of talent itself is changing. We no longer need traditional programmers, we need solution developers who can leverage AI assistants and co-pilots to deliver outcomes faster. The new metric is multiplier productivity, where we now talk about “3x,” “5x,” or “10x developers,” depending on how effectively they collaborate with AI tools. Those who master this synergy between human creativity and AI augmentation will find enormous opportunities in the evolving landscape.
