Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's leading IT firm, is leveraging Generative AI to accelerate development in the engineering research and design (ER&D) sector, the fastest-growing niche within the country's $254 billion tech industry.
“Generative AI has become a game-changer,” said Sreenivasa Chakravarti, vice president of internet of things and digital engineering at TCS. “We've seen product development cycles for clients like Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, and Siemens shorten by up to 20%, with even greater improvements anticipated.”
Clients are re-evaluating budgets and product features due to the transformative potential of Generative AI. Initially, the technology is being used for "low-hanging fruit" tasks like code generation, testing, and quality assurance.
ER&D services, which encompass technology support for hardware-focused industries like self-driving cars and sustainability solutions for oil and gas companies, account for a significant portion (one-sixth) of India's IT industry revenue.
The National Association of Software and Service Companies projects ER&D to be the fastest-growing sector, with an estimated growth of 7.5% in fiscal year 2024. The industry body expects the ER&D market to nearly quadruple by 2030, reaching a value of $170 billion.
Beyond TCS: A Thriving Niche
India's IT landscape extends beyond pure-play software service providers like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro. Focused players like Tata Elxsi, Cyient, and L&T Technology Services are also capitalizing on the ER&D boom.
Headwinds and Acquisitions
While India's core software services face macroeconomic challenges and potential slowdowns due to client spending restraint, the ER&D niche is experiencing a surge. Recent acquisitions like Cognizant's $1.3 billion purchase of Bulcan (digital engineering firm) and Infosys' acquisition of the German player in-tech for $480 million highlight this trend.
Toward Artificial General Intelligence:
Deep Learning, Neural Networks, Generative AI
Artifi cial Intelligence (AI) has been an exciting fi eld of study and research in educational institutions and research labs across the globe.