Has Gujarat missed the Artificial Intelligence bus like it missed the IT bus in 1990s?

By Rajiv Shah

Has Gujarat missed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) bus as it did the Information Technology (IT) bus in the 1990s despite claiming to be an industrial powerhouse sought to be promoted by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi? It would seem so if the latest study by the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) "Labour-force Perception about AI: A Study on Indian White-collar Workers" is any indication.
Looking into past, all-out efforts made by Gujarat's IT secretary in the late 1990s, late Jaswinder Singh Rana, during the Gujarat government headed by chief minister Keshubhai Patel (1998-2001). A no-nonsense IAS bureaucrat who would brief this correspondent about the need to promote the IT industry in every possible way, it was Rana who convinced Keshubhai to have an InfoCity type project in Gandhinagar, exclusively meant for the IT industry.
The InfoCity was launched on October 21, 2000, spread across in 150 acres of land. Keshubhai laid the foundation stone for what was slated to be a high profile project, even as top industry people attended the ceremony.
Ironically, there is no mention on its website about the InfoCity launch ceremony except offering the date on the launch and its promoters, Creative IT Inc., USA, a group company of Creative Choice despite the fact that those who attended the ceremony included top industrialist Mukesh Ambani and technocrat Sam Pitroda.
While InfoCity claims it offers direct employment "to almost 25,000 employees through its world class infrastructure to IT, BPO, KPO, Software Development & other ITeS companies", even as going so far as to say that it has been "awarded as the best conceptualized IT park in India", in 2003, when Modi was firmly in saddle as Gujarat chief minister, data available with trade and industry bodies said, Gujarat "lags behind" not only Maharashtra and Karnataka but also and less industrialised states.
Quoting the data amidst the first Vibrant Gujarat global summit held in 2003, reports said, Karnataka exported Rs 105 billion worth of software last year, Andhra Pradesh's share stood at Rs 29.25 billion, Tamil Nadu's at Rs 58.75 billion and Rs Kerala's 2.01 billion. Even Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, classified as Bimaru states, performed better with Rs 110.48 billion worth of software exports. Gujarat exported software worth just Rs 1.34 billion in 2001-02 as compared to neighbouring Maharashtra's Rs 65.56 billion.
InfoCity failed to get the required government push -- perhaps because the promoters, especially Dilip Barot, founder of the Creative Choice Group, claiming to believe in "capitalism with heart" philosophy, and would publicly remind Modi about the need to follow the Gandhian idea of non-violence. Modi later decided to come up with the idea of having what seemed to be parallel project in Gandhinagar, a finance city with IT as focus -- GIFT City.
In September-end 2003, even as Modi was planning his first Vibrant Gujarat summit, lack of enthusiasm towards IT was all too visible: I reported that of the 100-odd invitations that were sent out to top world entrepreneurs to participate, just two inquired about the 12 IT project profiles proposed for the summit.
Even four years later things didn't seem to change. In January 2007, speaking at the third Vibrant Gujarat global summit, Pitroda rued that Gujarat had ''missed the IT bus'' and said that the state needs to make huge investments in human resource development to develop the IT sector. Referring to InfoCity he said, ''By merely putting a building and having four to five offices of BPOs did not mean you are creating an IT hub... What you need is human capital.''

It's now 2024, and AI is clearly the buzz word across the world today. The IIM-A report on AI states that India is experiencing an AI boom, with a compound annual rate of growth (CARG) of between 25 and 35 per cent. By 2030, the just-released report states, "By 2035, AI is anticipated to contribute a staggering USD 967 billion to the Indian economy." And where is Gujarat placed in this AI boom?
It points out (see the chart above) that Bengaluru "tops across all cities in India" with 31.55% of total AI job vacancies, followed by Noida (11.57%), and Mumbai (11.48%), adding, 32% of total AI jobs are created in the IT sector (whose bus Gujarat had missed in the 1990s) and 50% of AI jobs require 2-5 years minimum work experience. Other cities offering AI jobs are Pune 9.32%, Chennai 7.35%, Hyderabad 6.10%, Delhi 5.06%, Mohali 4.13%, and Gurgaon 3.32%.
After reading through the report, one is left wondering why none of the Gujarat cities are mentioned in the report, despite the fact that it was prepared in Ahmedabad, the business capital of Gujarat. Are IT industries in Gujarat, especially state capital Gandhinagar, where two top IT related parks are situated, InfoCity and GIFT city, not interested in creating AI jobs? Is human capital for AI not being developed?
Meanwhile, a teacher of a high profile school commented, that while the CBSE syllabus has begun to offer an AI course, albeit as an option, "as for the Gujarat board, it may take about 10 years to follow suit." This teacher added, while private schools like Delhi Public and Udgam are propagating that they are offering AI training to their high school children, others are "just sitting idle."

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