Harnessing AI in Rural India: A New Era of Opportunities

Mon Oct 20 2025 15:31:21 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Explore how towns like Virudhunagar are becoming hubs for AI development, transforming rural economies and empowering local talent.

In rural India, particularly in towns such as Virudhunagar, there's a growing trend of integrating artificial intelligence into local economies. Companies like Desicrew and NextWealth are taking work to these areas to harness talent and lower costs. Employees like Mohan Kumar are training AI models, challenging the notion that only urban areas can support tech careers. With the rise of cloud farming, the future looks bright for India's small towns, which could soon become pivotal in the global AI landscape.

Virudhunagar, a town in southeastern India, can boast temples that date back thousands of years. But not far from those ancient sites, people are working on the latest tech - artificial intelligence.

One of those is Mohan Kumar. My role is in AI annotation. I collect data from various sources, label it, and train AI models so they can recognize and predict objects. Over time, the models become semi-supervised and can make decisions on their own, he says.

India has long been a centre for outsourced IT support, with cities like Bangalore or Chennai being traditional hubs for such work. But in recent years firms have been moving that work into much more remote areas, where costs for staff and space are lower. The trend is known as cloud farming, and AI has given it another boost with numerous towns, like Virudhunagar, hosting firms working on AI.

Professionally, there is no real difference. Whether in small towns or metros, we work with the same global clients from the US and Europe, and the training and skills required are the same, says Mr Kumar.

Mr Kumar works for Desicrew. Founded in 2005, it was a pioneer in cloud farming. We realized that instead of forcing people to migrate to cities in search of jobs, we could bring jobs to where people already live, says Mannivannan J K, the chief executive of Desicrew. For too long, opportunities have been concentrated in cities, leaving rural youth behind. Our mission has always been to create world-class careers closer to home.\

Desicrew does all sorts of outsourced work, including software testing, building datasets to train AI, and moderating content. At the moment, 30 to 40% of its work is AI related. Mr J K expects that number to grow considerably.

Much of that work is transcription - turning audio to text. As Mr J K explains, Machines understand text far better than audio. For AI to work naturally, machines must be trained to understand variations in how people speak. That's why transcription is such a crucial step. This work is transforming the workforce in these smaller towns.

NextWealth, founded in 2008, is another player in this ecosystem. Headquartered in Bangalore, it employs around 5,000 staff across India. Co-founder Mythily Ramesh emphasizes the untapped potential in India’s smaller towns, highlighting that 60% of India's graduates come from these areas but often miss out on opportunities.

As AI continues to evolve, next-gen jobs are expected to flood this space, with estimates suggesting 100 million new roles within the next few years. With reliable infrastructure becoming established in rural India, the perception barriers holding back these regions may soon crumble, allowing them to emerge as the new backbone of the global AI workforce.