MongoDB expands AI and data skills India

MongoDB has announced new partnerships aimed at accelerating AI and data skills India, targeting the upskilling of 500,000 developers through collaborations with HCL GUVI and the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge.

The initiative falls under MongoDB for Academia and is positioned as part of a long-term effort to strengthen India’s developer ecosystem. The focus is clear: improve access, widen reach and close the AI skills gap.

Addressing the AI skills gap

India remains one of the world’s largest technology talent pools. Yet demand is rising faster than supply.

A 2025 Bain & Company report projects that India’s AI sector could generate more than 2.3 million job openings by 2027. In contrast, the skilled AI talent pool is expected to reach only around 1.2 million during the same period.

The gap is structural. It is shaped by:

• Fragmented skill development

• Socio-economic disparities

• Unequal access to advanced training

MongoDB’s approach links AI readiness to data capability. The company emphasises that AI systems depend on modern data architecture. Students must learn to treat data as a primary asset, not as a backend hurdle.

Launched in September 2023, the MongoDB for Academia India programme provides student training, curriculum support for educators, free MongoDB credits and certifications aligned with technology careers. The company states it has already reached hundreds of thousands of students as part of its 500,000 target by 2028.

HCL GUVI partnership: Regional language access

The first partnership under the expanded AI and data skills India initiative is with HCL GUVI, an EdTech platform backed by HCL.

The partnership integrates MongoDB’s developer learning paths into HCL GUVI’s software development programmes. A key feature is regional language delivery. Courses will be offered in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi.

This language-first approach aims to reduce barriers for learners outside traditional urban technology clusters.

Arun Prakash, CEO, HCL GUVI, said the goal is to equip learners with industry-ready skills regardless of their background. He noted that integrating MongoDB’s curriculum into a multilingual platform makes advanced technical training more accessible and builds practical confidence.

The partnership intends to reach over 150,000 students by 2030.

TASK collaboration: Institutional reach in Telangana

The second partnership extends AI and data skills India into public institutions through the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge.

Working with nearly 100 institutions across the state, the programme will deliver specialised courses to engineering and computer science students. These include certifications and credits for MongoDB Atlas, the company’s multi-cloud database platform.

Shrikant Sinha, CEO, TASK, stated that the objective is to bridge the industry-academia gap and strengthen digital economy readiness across Telangana.

Over the next three years, the MongoDB-TASK collaboration aims to upskill an additional 50,000 students. The programme also plans to develop trained educators who can sustain the initiative within institutions.

A structured expansion of AI and data skills India

Together, the partnerships reflect a layered strategy:

• Accessibility through multilingual digital delivery

• Institutional scale via state-backed networks

• Career alignment through certifications and credits

HCL GUVI focuses on language inclusivity and online reach. TASK anchors the effort within formal higher education infrastructure.

The broader objective is to embed AI and data skills India within classrooms, online platforms and regional ecosystems simultaneously.

As AI-driven roles expand and demand outpaces supply, structured skilling programmes tied to industry tools may become central to workforce readiness.

MongoDB’s expansion signals that the next phase of AI competition in India will not be defined only by startups or platforms. It will also depend on how quickly students gain practical data and application development skills aligned with emerging industry needs.

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