Demand for Data Science and AI Professionals in 2026?

Technology has been transforming the way we do business. Today, Data Science and AI being the most disruptive technologies, are rapidly changing not only the business landscape but also our everyday lives.

India has established itself as a global IT hub in the past two decades and now, on its way in becoming the hub for Data Science and AI as well.

Do You Know?

• According to statistics, there are over 90,000 vacant employment opportunities in India, making a data science course in India a valuable choice, with over half of them being for beginners.
• According to recent industry insights, India is facing a growing AI talent gap, with demand for skilled AI professionals increasing faster than the available workforce. This has created significant opportunities for learners who develop expertise in AI, Machine Learning, and Data Analytics.
• According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, AI, Big Data, and related technology roles are among the fastest-growing career areas globally, with millions of new job opportunities expected to emerge by 2030 as businesses continue digital transformation.

Refer to these articles:

• Guide to Artificial Intelligence Career
• Will AI Agents Replace Your Next Coworker? Exploring the Future of Work
• Traditional AI vs Generative AI: Key Differences, Examples, and Use Cases

NASSCOM Report on AI and Data Science in INDIA

The National Organisation of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), a non-profit trade association and advocacy group in India focused on the country’s Artificial Intelligence technology industry, released a report titled ‘75@75 – India’s AI Journey’ to commemorate India’s 75th Independence Day.

Here are some initiatives that are driven by AI in various sectors of the economy:

• Microsoft E-marketplace platform for Farmers – Initiated a platform for farmers around the country to conduct advanced trades, which attracted over 150,000 farmers in its first year. In five years, the medium-term goal is to onboard over five million farmers. The impact and benefit in terms of the gross merchandise value (of transactions) are estimated to be USD 250 million in the first year and USD 8.5 billion over five years if these goals are accomplished.

• Google and Central water Commission – Using artificial intelligence to anticipate floods and save lives – There are three levels of risk in the alerts: some flood risk, greater flood risk, and highest flood risk. They were able to quadruple the advance time of many of their messages because of a recent change to their forecasting system, providing governments more notice and tens of millions of individuals an extra day or two to prepare.

• Intel & Sankara Eye Foundation: Harnessing AI to Transform Diabetic Retinopathy Diagnosis & Treatment – Netra AI, a valuable tool for early detection of this degenerative disorder that leads to blindness, as well as early treatment and control, has a sensitivity and accuracy of 99.7% and 98.5 percent, respectively, when detecting any DR.

• IIT Hyderabad – Covid 19 Test Kit – the goal of producing the self-testing kit was to break the transmission chain by making testing more inexpensive. The kit has a 94.2 percent efficiency, a 91.3 percent sensitivity, and a 98.2 percent specificity.

• Customer Support Automation Platform Verloop.io for Nyka – Nykaa handled over 1.6 million unique discussions in the first 30 days of using Verloop.io. The Verloop.io bot was rated highly favourable or exceptional by almost 90% of the customers that took part in these talks.

For further reference check out the Nasscom report: Download

Growth of Data Science and AI is predicted to be exponentially increasing for next decades

• The global machine learning market is expected to develop at a CAGR of 44.1 per cent between 2017 and 2022, rising from USD 1.41 billion to USD 8.81 billion!
• Artificial Intelligence continues to create new career opportunities across industries as businesses adopt automation, intelligent systems, and AI-driven solutions, increasing the demand for skilled professionals.
• According to the World Economic Forum, data scientists, analysts, and AI professionals continue to be among the most important emerging professions globally as demand for data-driven and Artificial Intelligence skills increases.
• The global machine learning market is expected to witness strong growth in the coming years, driven by increasing adoption of AI, automation, predictive analytics, and data-driven solutions across industries.
• The LinkedIn list of job opportunities shows that there are over 51,000 Artificial Intelligence job openings in India.

The demand for Data Science and AI professionals is only going to increase in coming years and there is a huge scarcity of right talents in these fields.

India is well positioned to meet the global demand for Data Science and AI professionals, thereby providing millions of jobs in this segment in coming years.

If you are exploring to pursue a career in Data Science and AI, this is the time to get started.

Contact DataMites to avail free career counselling: https://datamites.com/