BENGALURU: There has been an unprecedented demand for Gen AI learning as online learning platform Coursera found that in 2024, it recorded a 4x increase in GenAI enrollments in the country, totalling 1.1 million to date.
This is the highest number globally, followed by the US. On average, learners enrolled in GenAI content every minute – a jump from one enrollment every three minutes in 2023. While foundational GenAI courses remained popular, the focus shifted to applying GenAI at work, signaling a maturing interest in practical applications of the technology.
Beyond AI, Indian learners continued to pursue favourites like finance, project management, and data analytics, underscoring the importance of versatile skills in today’s dynamic job market. Entry-level Professional Certificates, which require no prior experience or college degree, also saw a rise in uptake. Several NSQF-aligned certificates, including Google Data Analytics, Google Project Management, IBM Data Science and Google UX Design, ranked among the top 10 in India.
Another key trend that emerged in 2024, apart from Gen AI learning, is a growing preference for role-specific content to prepare for specific jobs.
“Indian learners embraced the future of work in 2024, prioritising GenAI and job-aligned, mission critical skills to stay competitive in an evolving job market. Their progress amidst GenAI's disruption shows their resilience, adaptability and drive to lead on a global stage,” said Raghav Gupta, managing director, India and Asia-Pacific, Coursera.
In 2025, they expect the global race toward AI literacy to further accelerate.
Preliminary insights from Coursera’s Job Skills Report 2025 indicate that Indian enterprise learner efforts align closely with broader learner trends. GenAI skills were the most-sought-after by Indian learners, followed by cybersecurity, risk management and mitigation, and HR technology, emphasising the efforts being made to build resilient, future-ready workplaces.
According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2024, AI skills have become a top hiring priority for Indian leaders as 75% stated they wouldn’t hire candidates lacking AI skills, and 80% would prefer less experienced candidates with AI skills over more experienced ones without them.
Ten most popular GenAI courses in India in 2024
1 Generative AI for Everyone by DeepLearning.AI
2 Introduction to Generative AI by Google Cloud
3 Google AI Essentials by Google
4 Generative AI with Large Language Models by DeepLearning.AI & Amazon Web Services
5 Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT by Vanderbilt University
6 Generative AI: Introduction and Applications by IBM
7 Generative AI: Prompt Engineering Basics by IBM
8 ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers by DeepLearning.AI
9 ChatGPT Advanced Data Analysis by Vanderbilt University
10 Introduction to Large Language Models by Google Cloud