Salesforce, on Tuesday said that it plans to provide training to 100,000 students across India in agentic AI technologies by the end of 2026. The programme is a part of its large-scale skilling initiative in collaboration with the India AI Mission and SmartBridge, a talent accelerator and edtech organisation.
Under the ‘Yuva AI Bharat: GenAI Skill Catalyst’, the customer relationship management (CRM) company seeks to address the growing demand for AI-ready talent. The training programmes will be rolled out across academia and industry including engineering and non-technical institutions, integrating AI skill modules directly into university curricula.
“By 2031, India’s tech sector may lose as many as 1.5 million jobs if we don’t scale. But on the other hand, we could actually gain 4 million jobs if we do the right scaling exercises. And therefore, this skilling exercise is very important for us to be executed in a proper way,” Arundhati Bhattacharya, President and CEO, Salesforce South Asia said adding that the goal is to help organisations scale efficiently while creating new categories of skilled employment.
According to industry projections cited by Salesforce, AI adoption could add up to $1.7 trillion to India’s GDP by 2035, and 40% of work at Fortune 1000 companies will be enhanced through AI by 2029. India already ranks among the top three countries in digital adoption, with 87% of enterprises using some form of AI solution, according to the NASSCOM AI Adoption Index.
SmartBridge, Salesforce’s implementation partner for this initiative, will oversee the rollout through a three-tiered learning framework — Agentic AI Champion, Innovator, and Legend hosted on Salesforce’s Trailhead learning platform. The structured programme includes conceptual modules, hands-on training, and project-based application development for real-world use cases.
“It is a very structured and connected learning journey which includes a conceptual understanding through learning. There is a hands-on application to develop their skill set. And there is an innovation component to build applications for the industrial use cases as a real-world application,” Amarendar Katkam, founder & CEO, SmartBridge said.
Salesforce says the focus would be on equipping students with practical expertise in building, deploying, and managing AI-driven systems, in line with the industry’s shift toward “agentic” or autonomous AI solutions.
