AWS sees rising demand in India as employers seek hands-on AI readiness

Demand from Indian enterprises and government agencies for cloud and AI training is rising, with employers placing greater weight on hands-on readiness over classroom learning, technology giant Amazon Web Services said.   The company indicated that organisations are reassessing workforce preparedness as AI tools become embedded in everyday work. Tasks traditionally handled by junior developers, analysts and engineers are now supported by AI systems, allowing early-career employees to contribute more quickly, but also making it harder for employers to judge readiness using conventional markers such as degrees or course completion.   Against this backdrop, AWS has expanded its training and certification offerings, placing greater emphasis on applied learning and skill validation. In November 2025, the company opened registration for a professional-level generative AI developer certification and introduced microcredentials designed to test hands-on capability in specific tasks. It also added new features to its Skill Builder platform, including a Meeting Simulator for practising real-world technical and communication scenarios, and Cohort Studio, which enables group-based learning within organisations.   “The nature of demand from India has changed as AI adoption moves from experimentation to deployment,” Michelle Vaz, Managing Director of AWS Training and Certification, told Business Today. “The gap we see is not intent or interest, but applied experience,” she said, referring to the growing need for training models that mirror workplace conditions rather than rely solely on theoretical instruction.   Reviews by NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship published in 2025 also note that while India produces a large pool of technical graduates, fewer than half are considered readily employable for advanced digital roles without additional, practice-oriented training.   Workforce studies published over the past year indicate that a significant share of early-career technical workloads is already augmented by AI tools, compressing the time it takes for new hires to move beyond routine tasks. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs assessment, released in 2025,, estimates that around 40% of core job skills are set to change by the end of the decade, with employers placing greater emphasis on adaptability and demonstrable capability as roles are reconfigured.   Within AWS’s training portfolio, Skill Builder currently hosts more than 1,000 free learning resources and several hundred digital courses, including over 220 focused on AI. The newly introduced microcredentials require candidates to complete practical assessments in live cloud environments, offering employers a way to evaluate applied skills rather than rely on certificates alone.   “Certifications are not the only measure,” Vaz said. “But they provide a transparent, data-driven signal of readiness when organisations need to make decisions at scale.” She added that employers are increasingly asking how to validate skills across large workforces as roles continue to evolve.   The change has implications for hiring and workforce planning, particularly in markets such as India with large numbers of engineering and STEM graduates. Data from the All India Council for Technical Education show that India produces over 1.5 million engineering graduates annually, intensifying pressure on employers and training providers to distinguish between academic completion and workplace readiness. Human resources teams are being pushed to reassess what entry-level readiness looks like in roles where AI reduces the time needed to deliver meaningful output. Practice-based assessments, simulations and continuous learning models are beginning to gain traction as alternatives to one-time training programmes.   In India, AWS works with universities and government agencies through initiatives such as AWS Academy to align curricula with industry requirements, with an emphasis on practical exposure alongside academic learning. The program provides educators with ready-to-teach cloud computing curricula and helps students gain hands-on experience with AWS technologies before entering the workforce. Vaz said simulated environments and structured practice are becoming increasingly important where classroom education alone does not translate easily into workplace performance.   “Learning has to be part of the workflow,” she said, pointing to the need for training models that operate alongside daily work rather than sit outside it.