India poised to lead human skills economy amid rapid AI adoption: Report

India is uniquely well positioned to lead the new 'Human skills economy' given that it has the world’s youngest workforce, and the fastest rate of AI adoption, a report said on Wednesday.

India has the world’s highest rate of AI adoption, making human skills the sharpest edge in a tightening jobs market, the report from International Workplace Group (IWG) said.

Around 73 per cent of Indian workers use AI tools regularly, well ahead of the United States (45 per cent) and the United Kingdom (29 per cent).

According to Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index India findings, 93 per cent of Indian business leaders intend to use AI agents to extend workforce capabilities within the next 12–18 months. This acceleration makes the development of human skills such as empathy, judgment, leadership and collaboration even more critical as companies redesign work around human-AI collaboration.

Globally, around 90 per cent of HR leaders see failure to prioritise human capabilities as a risk to innovation. The report cited industry body NASSCOM as saying that India has the capacity to reskill and develop 8 -10 million professionals in AI-related services by 2030.

India’s AI talent demand could grow from 6 lakh to 6.5 lakh to over 1.25 million between 2022 and 2027, while noting that a shortage of qualified professionals could slow innovation and growth. This makes the combination of AI fluency and human capabilities central to India’s future workforce readiness.

Further, 55 per cent of HR leaders said hybrid workplaces are among the most effective settings for building empathy, judgment, and leadership skills, underscoring how hybrid work environments are seen as spaces where essential human traits like trust, mentorship, collaboration, and decision-making are actively developed and reinforced.

Around 73 per cent of hybrid teams are already using tools like ChatGPT and 82 per cent of organisations offer AI training. However, HR leaders say their readiness must accelerate to keep up, with fewer than half (45 per cent) saying they are effectively closing the skills gap, suggesting a significant number of organisations are still lagging in effective AI use.