NEW DELHI: India has the world’s strongest economic capacity for an AI-driven future and ranks second in digital-skills penetration. Yet, it stands 74th in workforce readiness and 73rd in human capital, exposing a gap between economic momentum and job-ready talent, according to the QS World Future Skills Index 2027 released Wednesday. India ranks 13th among 89 economies with a score of 89.4. It leads all lower-middle-income economies and South Asia. But capturing the estimated $500-billion opportunity from AI by 2030 will depend on whether its education and skilling systems can match labourmarket transformation.

The report says the balance between AI-augmented and AI-automated jobs will be crucial to India’s long-term competitiveness. It notes that leading economies have a larger share of workers in occupations where AI enhances productivity rather than replaces people.