India’s AI upskilling wave is taking a top-heavy turn, literally. With experienced technology executives going back to school, IIT Kharagpur and edtech platform upGrad are expanding their joint online executive AI portfolio from four to seven specialised programmes — following a 3x quarter-on-quarter enrolment jump.
“IIT Kharagpur’s scale and legacy give us the freedom to explore new frontiers like AI and medtech, fields that now sit at the crossroads of engineering, science and healthcare,” Suman Chakraborty, the director of IIT Kharagpur told this newspaper. “Our research ecosystem lets us turn deep technical work into real-world solutions, while strong alumni and industry ties carry our impact far beyond campus.”
He added that IIT Kharagpur’s partnership with upGrad brings the IIT’s academic rigour to working professionals through structured, industry-focused learning. “The strong response from senior professionals tells us that AI upskilling is now a continuous need, and why industry-academia partnerships matter for a fast-changing workforce,” he said.
The joint initiative — IIT Kharagpur’s first venture into online executive education — has reached professionals across 133 Indian cities and seven international markets, including the US, UK, UAE, and Germany.
Rather than early-career coders, the demographic profiles point to seasoned tech leadership. Over 63% of enrolled learners carry more than a decade of professional experience, with the median experience standing at 12 years. The cohort features vice-presidents, engineering managers, principal engineers, and tech leads from major tech and financial hubs, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, TCS, Infosys, Deloitte, Accenture, Salesforce, and Qualcomm.
“Driven by high demand for hands-on applications, enrolment in specialised certificates for generative AI and applied machine learning doubled quarter-on-quarter,” Anuj Vishwakarma, CEO of Higher Education Programmes at upGrad, said. “The portfolio has since added focused tracks in AI product building, agentic AI, and fintech. Tech hubs Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune lead the geographic demand.”
The rapid scaling comes as IIT Kharagpur marks its 75th year, and Vishwakarma said that the strong response confirms tech leaders are moving swiftly to translate AI from high-level board strategy into operational capability at work.