Atlas report
AI researchers in India
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is the largest, with 516 indexed researchers, barely ahead of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur at 400. No single place dominates here.
The short answer
By number of indexed researchers, India ranks 5th of 40 countries, with 16 405 profiles.
India counts 11 indexed AI researchers per million inhabitants, 17% of the world rate of 68.
Neural Networks and Reservoir Computing is the subject newcomers in India pick up fastest: 47 started on it since 2024, and its share of new entrants is 3.5 times its share in the previous window.
What stands out
India holds 3.0% of the researchers with a known country and 18% of the world's population, 17% of its demographic weight.
Network Security and Intrusion Detection is where India stands apart. 751 researchers, 2.0% of the country's total, against a world share of 1.0%.
Industry employs 5.4% of India's indexed AI researchers; worldwide the share is 9.4%, so the country runs at half the average.
Newcomers since 2024 number 2 839 in India, against 2 852 between 2021 and 2023: a ratio of 1.0, where the world sits at 1.7.
Subjects
Topic Modeling is the largest subject in India, carried by 8.5% of its subject assignments.
Subject reports: Natural Language Processing Techniques, Multimodal Machine Learning Applications.
| Subject | Researchers | Share here | Share worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic Modeling | 3 191 | 8.5% | 8.5% |
| Natural Language Processing Techniques | 2 198 | 5.9% | 4.7% |
| Advanced Neural Network Applications | 1 244 | 3.3% | 4.0% |
| Multimodal Machine Learning Applications | 918 | 2.5% | 3.8% |
| Speech Recognition and Synthesis | 792 | 2.1% | 1.4% |
| Network Security and Intrusion Detection | 751 | 2.0% | 1.0% |
| Mobile Ad Hoc Networks | 221 | 0.6% | 0.2% |
| Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Adaptive Learning | 93 | 0.2% | 0.4% |
Newcomers by year
Measured on 2025 alone, entry into India ran at 0.7 times its three-year average, where the world ran at 0.7.
| First publication | New in India | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 457 | 2.9% |
| 2020 | 582 | 3.6% |
| 2021 | 698 | 3.7% |
| 2022 | 1 204 | 4.3% |
| 2023 | 950 | 4.1% |
| 2024 | 826 | 3.6% |
| 2025 | 671 | 3.6% |
Institutions
7.8% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is the largest, with 516 indexed researchers, barely ahead of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur at 400. No single place dominates here. Everyone else sits in places too small to name without pointing at individuals.
| Institution | Researchers | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|
| Indian Institute of Technology Bombay | 516 | 3.1% |
| Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | 400 | 2.4% |
| Indian Institute of Technology Madras | 358 | 2.2% |
Compared with its peers
The two countries closest in size are South Korea and France. Same order of magnitude, different profile. The gap that stands out is the researchers per million inhabitants: 11 here, below the 236 of those two.
| India | South Korea | France | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 16 405 | 14 529 | 13 129 |
| Per million inhabitants | 11 | 281 | 192 |
| In a company | 5.4% | 9.5% | 8.6% |
| Early career | 49% | 43% | 47% |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 1.0 | 1.6 | 1.1 |
Method
A country is where the institution sits, so someone who has moved and not yet published from the new address still counts at the old one. Counts move between two refreshes because the index grows every night. The method page sets out the sources and what each field leaves out.
Common questions
- How many AI researchers are there in India?
- 16 405, as of September 2026, counting every indexed researcher with an institution in India. That is 3.0% of the profiles with a known country, and a floor rather than a census, since the index holds people who published.
- Where do you find AI researchers in India?
- Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, 516, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, 400, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, 358. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 8.5% of the country's subject assignments.
- What is India strongest in?
- Network Security and Intrusion Detection, at 1.9 times the world share.
- Is the pool of AI researchers in India growing?
- Yes, slower than the world. Since 2024, 2 839 people in India published for the first time, against 2 852 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.0 where the world sits at 1.7.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
Search it by subject and country to find who leads the work today, and set an alert on the ones about to come free, for $179 a month or 149 € in the euro area. Or hand the search over and pay only when someone joins.