Learning AI can be lucrative: Freshers’ annual pay is ₹10-14 lakh in India, says TeamLease Digital report

• India has 45,000 open jobs in artificial intelligence (AI), according to tech staffing firm TeamLease Digital’s report on AI.
• AI-generated revenue in India was at $12.3 billion in 2022 and the AI software segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18% by the end of 2025.
• More and more AI professionals will have to learn building ML solutions and ML models.

India has 45,000 open jobs in artificial intelligence (AI) with the annual salary for freshers ranging between ₹10-14 lakh, according to tech staffing firm TeamLease Digital’s report on AI.

The report titled ‘Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) - Forces Shaping Future of Technology - AI’ says that AI-generated revenue in India was at $12.3 billion in 2022 and expects the AI software segment to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% by the end of 2025.

Increased demand for AI professionals

With increasing focus on scalable machine learning (ML) applications, the demand for software engineers and data professionals will eventually go down. This will lead to an increase in demand for AI professionals proficient in scripting languages. More and more AI professionals will have to learn to build ML solutions, and the basic skill of building conventional ML models will be the foremost skill required for having a career in AI.

Says Sunil Chemmankotil, chief executive officer, TeamLease Digital, “The AI revolution is transforming the job market, creating an urgent need for skilled professionals who can design, develop and implement cutting-edge AI technologies.”

The report has found that there are currently a wide variety of key job roles in the AI landscape across major industries, including – healthcare (clinical data analyst, medical imaging specialist and health informatics analyst, among others), education (edtech product manager, AI learning architect, AI curriculum developer, chatbot developer, etc), BFSI (fraud analyst, credit risk analyst, compliance specialist), manufacturing (industrial data scientist, QC analyst, process automation specialist, robotics engineer, etc) and retail (retail data analyst, IT process modeler, digital imaging leader and others).

Salaries of AI professionals

AI professionals can expect to draw lucrative salaries. According to TeamLease Digital’s research, the expected salaries for freshers in various technology roles in India are as follows- data engineers (up to ₹14 lakh per annum), ML engineers (up to ₹10 lakh per annum) , data scientists (up to ₹14 lakh per annum), devops engineers (up to ₹12 lakh per annum), data architects (up to ₹12 lakh per annum), business intelligence analysts (up to ₹14 lakh per annum), and database admins (up to ₹12 lakh per annum). Additionally, candidates with eight years of experience in similar fields can earn even higher salaries ranging between ₹25-45 lakh per annum.

Upskilling for career advancement in AI

Freshers aspiring to pursue a career in AI must have passed class XII with physics and math and should have completed a course/graduation in the required discipline based on the job requirement. It is important to have a strong foundation in math including topics of linear algebra, statistics and calculus. Experienced professionals can enroll for online or classroom courses and build a foundation in ML, deep learning, NLP (natural language processing), data analysis, and computer vision. They can upskill themselves in AI through a combination of obtaining knowledge, gaining practical experience, obtaining certifications as well as staying up-to-date with the latest trends.