Coursera, one of the world’s largest online learning platforms, recently released its yearly learner trends for India based on data from over 27 million enrolled learners. This year, India surpassed Europe in the overall number of Coursera learners, demonstrating Indian learners’ ambition and dedication to upskilling and being competitive in a fast-evolving global workforce. In 2024, two major trends emerged: unprecedented demand for GenAI learning and a growing preference for role-specific content to help prepare for specific professions.
According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2024, AI skills have become a top hiring priority for Indian leaders – 75% stated they wouldn’t hire candidates lacking AI skills, and 80% would prefer less experienced candidates with AI skills over more experienced ones without them. Reflecting this shift, 60% of India’s top courses this year focused on AI and ML, cementing their position as must-have skills for professionals across industries.
In 2024, Coursera recorded a 4x increase in GenAI enrollments in India, totalling 1.1 million to date – the highest globally, followed by the US. On average, learners enrolled in GenAI content every minute – an impressive jump from one enrollment every three minutes in 2023. While foundational GenAI courses remained popular, the focus shifted to applying GenAI at work, signalling a maturing interest in practical applications of the technology.
Besides AI, Indian students continued to pursue longstanding favourites such as finance, project management, and data analytics, highlighting the significance of adaptability in today’s dynamic job market. Entry-level Professional Certificates, which require no prior experience or college degree, have also seen an increase in demand. Several NSQF-aligned credentials, such as Google Data Analytics, Google Project Management, IBM Data Science, and Google UX Design, are among the top ten in India.
Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and Asia Pacific, Coursera, shared his thoughts on the trend:
Indian learners embraced the future of work in 2024, prioritizing GenAI and job-aligned, mission-critical skills to stay competitive in an evolving job market. Their progress amidst GenAI’s disruption shows their resilience, adaptability and drive to lead on a global stage. In 2025, we expect the global race toward AI literacy to accelerate further, and we remain committed to empowering Indian learners with accessible and transformative education for success in the AI-powered world.
The preliminary insights from Coursera’s Job Skills Report 2025 show that Indian enterprise learner efforts are closely linked with more significant learner trends. GenAI skills were in high demand among Indian learners, followed by cybersecurity, risk management and mitigation, and HR technology, highlighting attempts to establish robust, future-ready workplaces. These findings illustrate the rising convergence of upskilling initiatives led by Indian institutions with global workforce demand. The upcoming report will reveal the fastest-growing job skills for 2025 based on data from Coursera’s Enterprise learners.
About Coursera
Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, two Stanford computer science professors, founded Coursera in 2012 to provide universal access to world-class learning. It is currently one of the world’s largest online learning platforms, with 162 million registered users as of September 30, 2024. The organization collaborates with more than 350 significant educational institutions and industry partners to provide diverse content and credentials, including courses, specializations, professional certificates, guided projects, and bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The platform is used by institutions worldwide to upskill and reskill their employees, citizens, and students in fields including data science, technology, and business.
