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More than 95 percent of Indian organizations are prioritizing generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) as per a new study.

The SAP's new midmarket AI research revealed that 96% of Indian organizations between 250 and 1,500 employees are prioritizing GenAI, compared to 91% in the rest of the world.

Over half of the Indian midmarket businesses surveyed (55%) have placed a high priority on AI to transform privacy and security and improve decision-making (52%).

The Indian businesses are also putting a high priority on AI to improve training and skills development at 51%, customer experience at 50%, and to optimize supply chains and logistics at 50%.

	
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Additionally, the SAP study revealed that Indian businesses are also adopting AI faster than the rest of the world. Of the total surveyed businesses, 49% said they were using AI for forecasting and budgeting to a strong degree compared to 40% of the world. Also, 48% of domestic firms are using AI to develop marketing and sales content. Other uses of AI in the Indian midmarket businesses include gathering market intelligence and monitoring regulatory compliance and cyber security threats.

<strong>Challenges</strong>

The biggest challenge for Indian midmarket businesses is finding, attracting, and retaining talent who is equipped with AI skills. 

SAP report added that data is another major risk for such businesses. Lack of transparency behind AI results, acting upon incorrect information, and insufficient data size and quality for AI models, are among the other risks identified. 

SAP report comprised the responses of 12,003 businesses around the world, including 800 in India.

	
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Manish Prasad, President and Managing Director of SAO Indian Subcontinent said, "AI is a game-changer for these companies, offering agility, actionable insights and helping them thrive in the digital economy".

Rajeev Singh, Vice President and Head of Midmarket, SAP Indian Subcontinent said, "AI has the potential to empower organizations with intelligent insights, automation, and tools, allowing them to compete on a global scale".

Indian firms prioritize GenAI, outpacing global average: SAP study

Paytm founder and Chairman Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Thursday spoke about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionize the fintech industry. Sharma, during the 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Paytm's parent firm One97 Communications Ltd, said, "Companies and businesses that will start adopting AI at a very early stage will become successful," and added, "GenAI will have a profound impact on every industry across the country".

The Paytm chairman also mentioned, "Just like India has taken the lead in the financial technology, the same way it will do it in the AI space. Paytm will lead the industry with AI capability".

Talking about Japan's PayPay, Sharma said Paytm has adopted AI in Japan, supporting risk management and fraud detection.

"Our risk management and fraud detection systems not only enhance our payment solutions in India but also support one of the largest mobile payment companies in Japan (PayPay), where we are also a potential shareholder. There is strong demand and high expectations for us to continue advancing our AI-powered risk management solutions," Sharma added.

	
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He said that the company's goal right now is to harness AI in the fintech space.

"Our goal is to harness these technologies to improve our core business operations and drive down expenses," Sharma said.

Notably, the company laid off more than 1,000 employees from its operations, sales, and engineering teams in December after adopting AI in most of the operational work.

Apart from AI, the Paytm boss said he would reapply for a payment aggregator (PA) license to reserve Bank in due course.

Recently, the Centre allowed Paytm to invest in its payment services business.

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“We would like to inform you that PPSL has received approval from the government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, vide its letter dated August 27, 2024, for downstream investment from the company into PPSL. With this approval in place, PPSL will proceed to resubmit its PA application. In the meantime, PPSL will continue to provide online payment aggregation services to existing partners,” Paytm had informed the stock exchanges earlier.

RBI had rejected Paytm’s PA licence permit application in November 2022 and instructed the company to reapply with Press Note 3 compliance under the foreign direct investment norms.

One97 Communications stock closed at 0.083% up at Rs 667.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday. 


AI will have profound impact on every industry: Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm

European Union privacy regulator has now opened an inquiry into Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) model, Pathways Language Model 2 (PaLM2). The regulator is probing whether the search engine of the tech giant is has adequately protected European Union users' personal data before using it to help develop its foundational AI Model.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), the lead EU regulator for most of the top U.S. internet firms said that the probe concerned the Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), opens new tab unit's Pathways Language Model 2 (PaLM 2).

As Google's European operations are headquartered in Dublin, the Irish DPC serves as the tech giant's lead authority under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU's strict data privacy framework. The commission stated that the investigation will focus on whether Google properly evaluated whether PaLM2’s data processing presents a “high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals” in the EU.

Similarly, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, suspended plans to use content from European users to train its latest language model. This move followed extensive discussions with Irish regulators, highlighting the pressure tech giants face in ensuring compliance with EU data laws. 

Other countries in the EU have also taken action. Italy’s data privacy regulator temporarily banned ChatGPT in 2022 due to privacy violations, only allowing its return after OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, agreed to implement measures addressing the regulator's concerns.

EU regulators to probe Google over its AI model, raises privacy concerns

The Media and Entertainment industry saw a 10% YoY increase in job recruitment in August 2024 as per the latest data from hiring platform Naukri.com. 

According to Naukri JobSpeak August 2024 report, covering only white-collar jobs (excluding campus placement, hyperlocal hiring, and the gig economy), mentioned that the job index point for the media and entertainment industry stood at 437 last month of the current calendar year as against 397 points in August 2023. However, hiring in this sector saw a 17.2% decline on a month-on-month basis. In July 2024, the Naukri JobSpeak Index for the Media and Entertainment industry was at 528 point.

During the subdued job market, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) jobs witnessed a 14% spike in August 2024 at 1454 points as against 1280 in the same month last year.

Additionally, the hiring in the FMCG and Pharma sectors remained strong as per the data. The FMCG sector saw an 11% year-on-year growth, driven by strong performances in Bengaluru and Kolkata. The pharma sector grew by 9% YoY with Baroda registering 44% growth in August 2024. On the other hand, the hiring dwindled in the retail and telecom sectors by 8% and 13%, respectively in August this year to 1,420 points as per the Naukri JobSpeak Index. 

Further, the data underscored that fresher recruitment remained strong in Kochi, Baroda, and Coimbatore as compared to key metro cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai. Notably, startups and unicorns outpaced foreign MNCs and Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in hiring in Bengaluru. Chennai showed signs of following a similar trajectory, while Hyderabad presented a mixed picture with startups and GCCs leading in recruitment over MNCs. 

There was a seven percent decline in job opportunities for professionals with experience of 0-3 years as compared to August 2023. However, an 11% growth was witnessed in hiring professionals with more than 16 years of experience in August 2024.

Media and Entertainment industry witnesses 10% YoY rise in job recruitment in August: Naukri data

As India aims to become a global leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI), several organizations have begun upskilling their employees to bridge the talent gap. 

Most Indian IT companies have already started training their workforce on AI and related technologies. In FY24, TCS trained 350,000 employees, while Wipro trained 220,000 employees on AI. Microsoft has also agreed to provide AI skilling opportunities to 2 million people in India by 2025 to empower India’s workforce with skills that are future-ready. Infosys has initiated customized and comprehensive in-house AI training programmes to upskill its existing workforce, according to Deloitte-Nasscom's “Advancing India’s AI Skills: Interventions and programmes needed,” report.


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The report mentioned that last year about 43% of the overall domestic workforce across sectors encountered wide use of AI in their organisations. 60 percent of all workers and 71 percent of Gen Z professionals recognise that acquiring AI skills can enhance their career prospects. Additionally, two of three Indians plan to learn at least one digital skill, with AI and Machine Learning (ML) topping the list.

It is expected that India will have a surplus of talent by 2030, with over one million highly skilled tech professionals, the report added.

	
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However, to truly harness this potential, the focus must shift towards not just quantity but the quality of AI talent, Sathish Gopalaiah, President, Tech & Transformation, Deloitte South Asia said. "By reskilling the existing workforce and fostering new talent through robust government-academia-industry collaboration, we can ensure a steady pipeline of professionals ready to lead AI-driven innovation," he added.

India Inc upskills employees to bridge AI talent gap: Deloitte-Nasscom report

Gan.AI, a leading startup in conversational AI research and products has announced the launch of Myna-mini, a text-to-speech (TTS) model and API. The TTS model supports 22 official Indic languages including English.

"Myna-mini represents a significant step towards making AI accessible and useful for everyone, regardless of the language they speak," said Suvrat Bhushan, founder and CEO of Gan.AI. "We're excited to bridge the language gap and bring advanced voice technology to over 1 billion people."

Gan.AI has also announced plans for more advanced models, including: Myna and Myna-Large: Set to be the one of the world's largest TTS models in terms of training data and parameter count, Zero-shot cross-lingual voice cloning, Lip-sync API, Avatar API

Gan.AI's technology has been used by brands for personalizing video and audio campaigns, including Uber, Cadbury, Swiggy, Zomato, the San Antonio Spurs, and Mumbai Indians.

The key features of Myna-mini includes support for 22 Indic languages and English for comprehensive linguistic coverage, multiple distinct voices which reflects diverse regions of India, native code-mixed language support for seamlessly handling of multilingual inputs among others. 

Moreover, its code-mixed support helps Myna-mini to seamlessly handle text that mixes multiple languages in a single sentence or paragraph. This reflects how people naturally communicate, switching between languages mid-conversation. 

Myna-mini is the result of extensive research and development by Gan.AI's team, which includes experts from prestigious institutions and tech giants such as Stanford, FAIR, IITs, BITS, Samsung, Microsoft, and Adobe Research. The team boasts over 1000 combined research citations in the field.

Gan.AI launches Myna-mini, a TTS model supporting 22 Indic languages

Since the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a contentious debate has sparked over its impact on employment. However, Somil Agrawal, Head of Marketing at Shiprocket said the logistics industry will witness new job roles backed by AI tools. According to Agrawal, AI will not impact jobs if job seekers can leverage tools like ChatGPT, especially in marketing.

"Candidate equipped with ChatGPT has become an integral part of the hiring process as it has improved our productivity and enhanced social media content," he said.

As per LinkedIn’s 2024 B2B Marketing Benchmark report, 3 in 4 B2B marketing leaders in India are already using Generative AI applications in their marketing activities. 

On the international shipping, Agrawal said they were boosting their AI technology, enabling small Indian merchants to sell their products globally. He said that AI, Machine Learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT)technologies have enabled data-driven decision-making and automation that are critical for INdina merchants to ensure effective international operations.

Agrawal explained that ML algorithms could forecast inventory needs, optimize supply chains, and personalize customer experiences. On the other hand, IoT connects devices and systems, enabling real-time data collection and automation.

"We are trying to empower brands to sell abroad by giving insights to merchants on how they can sell products on Amazon in the US market as well," he said.

Notably, artificial jewellery is the top-performing category in e-commerce exports, accounting for 40% of exports. Beauty and grooming products contribute to 15-20% of the export demand, according to data by Shiprocket. Trade agreements have provided opportunities for small businesses to reach a broader audience.

Further, Agrawal spoke about the emerging trend of drone delivery service,  "We have partnered with Skye Air Mobility to provide quicker services recently".

On warehouses, Agrawal said the company has no plans of opening large warehouses. Instead, Shiprocket will focus on expediting the shipping process at affordable rates.

AI-powered tools to enhance productivity, not replace jobs: Shiprocket's Somil Agrawal

In the age of the generative Artificial Intelligence era, the Capgemini report said that most organizations have embraced the new transformative technology. According to Capgemini's report <em>'Harnessing the value of generative AI 2nd edition: Use of cases across sectors'</em>, "Nearly one quarter of the organizations are currently integrating generative AI into some of their locations or functions, an increase from 6% in 2023".

As per the report, no organization has decreased its investment in AI. 80% of the organizations have increased their investment in generative AI from last year while 20% have maintained the same investment level.

"73% of organizations with $1‒5 billion in annual revenue have increased their investment, and 89% of organizations with over $20 billion in revenue have done so," the Capgemini report added.

Organizations who have adopted the AI, have witnessed a 6.7% improvement in customer engagement and satisfaction over the past year in the areas in which the technology has been deployed, the report mentioned.

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“As investment increases, the rise of more complex, autonomous AI systems signal a new era of generative AI that could impact the way companies operate. To propel their AI journeys forward, organizations should establish strong data foundations with clear processes to manage siloed data and enable data integration across functions. Trust, transparency, and accountability will continue to play a central role whilst embracing this next frontier of AI that has the potential to deliver significant value over time," Pascal Brier, Chief Innovation Officer at Capgemini and Member of the Group Executive Committee said.

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The acceleration of generative AI over the past 12 months is not limited to a business level but has become accessible to non-experts too, the report added.

Further, the report mentioned that only 3% of the organizations have imposed a ban on the use of public generative AI tools in the workplace. Almost 97% of organizations allow employees to use generative AI tools in the workplace.

Organizations report 4x rise in deployment of generative AI: Report

In the age of digital disruption, 77% of the startups in India are investing in advanced technologies, including AI, ML, IoT, and blockchain, according to a study by SAP-Dun & Bradstreet.

The study titled, "Value Creation and Sustainable Growth: The Blueprint for Startup Profitability in India," said that startups have proactively integrated advanced technologies to achieve operational efficiency.

Almost 80% of the startups believe that adopting enterprise applications integrated with new-age technologies such as AI is essential for scaling and improving unit economics. Whereas 72% of startups already have or are looking to invest in new-age technologies.

85% of startups in the country said that unit economics is a clear path to profitability and enhancing valuation.

The report noted that Tier-2 and 3 cities have become innovation hubs. As many as 40% of total tech startups originate from these cities, the report added.

"Cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur, Madurai, Indore, Kochi, Warangal, Hubli, Raipur, Vishakhapatnam, and Guwahati, among others, host 15% of the country's tech skill pool," according to the study.

"The rising prominence of Tier II and Tier III cities as innovation hubs has further decentralized economic development. As we navigate the challenges of funding limitations and market volatility, start-ups must focus on unit economics and profitability to build sustainable and profitable enterprises," Avinash Gupta, Managing Director & CEO – India, Dun & Bradstreet said.

Several startups have adopted new-age technologies such as agritech startups have adopted AI-powered drones and IoT devices optimising farming practices, enhancing yield, and reducing labour costs. Fintech startups are using AI algorithms for credit scoring and risk assessment and also detecting fraud.

64% respondents of in the study said that the adoption of enterprise applications is key to measuring rapidly changing customer behavior and making strategic decisions to scale and improve unit economics.

Nearly 80% of Indian startups investing in AI, other advanced technologies: Report

Google is working with the Ministry of Electronics and IT's (MeitY's) Startup Hub to train and support 10,000 Indian startups in artificial intelligence (AI). The company will also provide up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits for eligible startups to invest in the cloud infrastructure and computational power required for AI development and deployment.

The tech giant also announced that more than 1.5 million developers globally are using Gemini models. The announcement was made at the company's developer event, Google I/O Connect Bengaluru. This move by Google is part of the company’s strategy to tap into the rapidly growing artificial intelligence developer ecosystem in India, a crucial market for its global AI efforts.

As part of the initiative, Google is providing startups with AI-first programming and curriculum through its programs such as Appscale Academy and Startup School, helping them with skills, knowledge, and mentorship.

Google is also developing AI innovation programs to help the next generation of startups and developers solve real-world challenges. This includes a nationwide Gen AI Hackathon, a 3-month immersive experience in partnership with MeitY Startup Hub and Startup India, and the Solve for India Startup Bootcamp | AI Edition, to support early-stage startups tackling challenges across healthcare, climate change, agriculture, cybersecurity, and digital public infrastructure (DPI) using AI.

Additionally, Google will collaborate with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), offering developers building for ONDC up to 90 percent off on select Google Maps Platform APIs.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE