Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) is a hot topic in town discussions, but for many big IT service providers in India, it’s just a small part of their business. When looking closely at the third quarter data ending on December 31, an interesting trend appears: there are about 450 projects and proofs-of-concept (PoCs), not moving forward much within the Gen AI deal pipelines of India’s top ten IT companies. Their joint work leads to a potential deal pipeline valued between $150 and $250 million. In this new area, Accenture – the worldwide big company; has a Gen AI pipeline by itself that is worth $450 million, showing how much they lead in the field.
We see a big 50% rise in Gen AI opportunities in Accenture’s pipeline; it jumped from $300 million, which was achieved in the last six months of FY23, to a remarkable $450 million just for the first quarter of FY24 (September-November). Top management at major companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and HCL Technologies (HCLTech), as well as Accenture and its Indian peers have mentioned their projects are usually smaller; these often do not reach one million dollars. This pattern becomes more obvious because local IT service companies keep smaller average sizes for their projects.
Unearth Insight calculates that IT businesses in India make roughly $0.4-0.6 million per Gen AI project, which is less compared to the worldwide companies earning around $0.8-1 million for similar projects. Nevertheless, even with all the excitement about Gen AI, some of these projects remain at the Proof of Concept stage and while they keep current customers interested, they do not always bring in money right away. Furthermore: certain experiments persist without cost—potentially amplifying the impact on immediate financial returns.
Every year, Accenture puts $1 billion into training its employees in General Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), showing how important this area is to them. Also, Accenture plans to spend another $3 billion in the coming three years to improve data and AI skills inside their business. Another important company, HCL Technologies, is involved in many different sectors with around 170 examples of generative AI projects they are testing. Businesses that recognize the big possibilities of new generative AI expect to start on a smaller scale and then gradually increase their activities over the next few months. Both international and local participants are striving to obtain a considerable part of the market in India’s developing general artificial intelligence field.
