India produces millions of talented graduates every year, but the country still faces an employability crisis. A major reason for this is the discrepancy between what students learn in the education system and what is expected of them at modern workplaces—especially with regards to technology education. 

In Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, students have lower access to not only career opportunities but also industry mentors who could teach them to use frontier technologies such as AI. This in turn makes it harder for them to adapt their skills to changing market needs.

AINXTGEN, a product of edtech firm TechShikSha, brings much-needed guidance to this demographic. Since its founding in 2024, this Bengaluru-based initiative has hosted an AI-powered digital platform and training program to familiarize students with popular frontier technologies. Its goal is simple—to help transform India’s graduates into a skilled workforce prepared for a digital future.

What does the initiative entail?

AINXTGEN’s training program is shared with partner institutions via a dynamic digital platform. Its components include workshops, internships, hackathons, and innovation challenges related to new technology, many of which use generative AI. 

Enrolled learners are encouraged to increase their productivity, problem-solving, communication, and content creation, all through applying their prior knowledge to understand new tech-related concepts. Hosted on cloud, this program can be delivered at any location and most of its learning resources are virtually available.

As students use the platform, it collects data that it then uses to draw AI-based insights on their skill gaps and progress over time. By sharing these insights with the students, AINXTGEN offers them ways to align with trends in market demand. 

Who has the platform benefited?

So far, around 2,000 learners have utilized AINXTGEN’s platform and training program. This cohort has included engineering students, MBA graduates, women restarting their careers, first-generation learners, and young professionals from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Many of these individuals had not received adequate exposure to frontier technologies beforehand, making such an innovation especially important to ensure their inclusion in the expanding digital sector across the country.

The company has its main partnerships with 13 districts in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, including in central hubs of development such as Bengaluru, Chennai, and Visakhapatnam. Since its training program has virtual components, it is also available to learners from other states. Its resources are shared with both academic and industry support, with its speakers and mentors coming from both types of backgrounds.

While the quantitative benefits have varied, founder Poornima S. reports that all learners have displayed greater confidence and awareness of emerging technologies. Many have completed internships and designed their own AI and cloud-based projects, indicating increased readiness to handle tech-oriented jobs. In addition, these accomplishments complement the efforts of universities and help them more effectively link education to the professional world.

Spreading the training program

Some of the organizations that have collaborated to develop this initiative include Microsoft Learn, the Azure Developer Community, and Reskill. Their connections have enabled AINXTGEN to build impact along established educational networks, reaching as many learners as possible. 

The next steps would be to develop partnerships with governments and deepen existing relationships with educational institutions and technology companies. These would enable AINXTGEN to find more incubation support, innovation grants, and AI infrastructure, ultimately increasing its scope of operation.

From a policy perspective, governments could spearhead the adoption of digital learning platforms, as a way to improve technology literacy, by facilitating more industry–academic information exchange. At the same time, they could integrate innovations such as AINXTGEN within national skill development programs and employability missions. This would boost credibility and encourage adoption by the public.