Virudhunagar, a quiet town in southeastern India, is known for temples that date back thousands of years. Yet among its ancient lanes, people are building something entirely modern—artificial intelligence systems used worldwide.
Tradition meets technology
Mohan Kumar helps machines learn how to think. “I work in AI annotation. I collect and label data to train models that recognize and predict objects. Over time, they learn to make decisions independently,” he explains.
India has long been a leader in outsourced technology services, with Bangalore and Chennai as its main centres. But a new shift is taking shape—tech work is spreading to smaller towns, where rent and wages cost less and talent is growing fast.
This wave, called cloud farming, is turning rural areas like Virudhunagar into thriving AI hubs.
Bringing jobs home instead of leaving for cities
Mohan Kumar doesn’t believe he’s missing out by staying local. “Professionally, there’s no difference,” he says. “We work with the same clients from the US and Europe. The standards and skills are identical.”
He works for Desicrew, founded in 2005, one of India’s first cloud farming companies. “We realised people shouldn’t have to leave their homes to find good jobs,” says chief executive Mannivannan J. K. “Cities have monopolised opportunities for too long. We wanted to bring high-quality careers to rural India.”
Desicrew handles tasks such as software testing, AI dataset creation, and content moderation. “Right now, 30 to 40% of our projects involve AI,” says Mannivannan. “Soon, that will rise to 75 or even 100%.”
Teaching machines to understand humans
Much of Desicrew’s work focuses on transcription—turning speech into text. “Machines understand text much better,” Mannivannan explains. “To make AI sound human, it must learn how people speak across different languages and accents. Transcription lays that foundation.”
He insists working from a small town is no disadvantage. “People think rural means backward, but our centres mirror city IT hubs—secure access, fast connections, and stable electricity. The only difference is geography.”
Seventy percent of Desicrew’s employees are women. “For many, this is their first salaried role,” he says. “It transforms families—creating financial stability and better education for their children.”
Unlocking hidden talent across India
NextWealth, founded in 2008, shares the same mission. Based in Bangalore, it employs 5,000 people in 11 offices across smaller towns.
“Sixty percent of India’s graduates come from non-metro areas, but most IT jobs are city-based,” says co-founder and managing director Mythily Ramesh. “That leaves a massive pool of skilled, first-generation graduates untapped. Their parents are farmers, tailors, or small shopkeepers who sacrifice to fund their education.”
NextWealth began by managing outsourced business tasks, then moved into AI five years ago. “Today, some of the world’s most advanced algorithms are being trained and refined in small-town India,” Ramesh says.
Small towns, big impact
About 70% of NextWealth’s business comes from the United States. “Every AI system—from language models to facial recognition—depends on vast amounts of human-labelled data,” Ramesh explains. “That’s what we produce.”
She predicts rapid growth ahead. “In the next three to five years, AI and generative AI could create 100 million jobs in training, validation, and real-time support. India’s smaller towns can lead that expansion.”
Ramesh believes India’s head start will pay off. “Other countries like the Philippines are catching up, but India’s early investment and scale give us a five to seven-year advantage. We need to use it wisely.”
Challenges behind the progress
Technology advisor KS Viswanathan, formerly with India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies, believes the country’s smaller towns are shaping global AI. “Silicon Valley builds the AI engines, but India’s cloud farming sector keeps them running,” he says.
He sees the industry at a critical moment. “If cloud farming continues to grow, small-town India could become the world’s largest AI operations hub—just like it became the IT powerhouse twenty years ago.”
Still, he warns of challenges. “Internet reliability and secure data centres in smaller towns don’t always match metro standards,” he says. “That raises concerns about data protection.”
Even with strong infrastructure, international perception can slow progress. “Some clients still doubt that rural centres can handle sensitive data safely. Trust must be earned through consistent performance,” Viswanathan explains.
The humans behind smarter machines
At NextWealth, Dhanalakshmi Vijay works to refine AI systems. When an algorithm confuses a blue denim jacket with a navy shirt, she steps in. “We correct the model and feed it back into the system,” she says. “Each fix helps the AI learn and become more accurate, just like a software update.”
Her work affects millions of users. “Our team helps train AI systems that make online shopping smoother and faster,” she says proudly. “We’re teaching machines to think more like people.”
The next frontier of India’s tech story
Across India’s countryside, a quiet revolution is underway. In towns like Virudhunagar, young professionals are transforming how the world’s technology learns, thinks, and responds.
These communities show that innovation doesn’t just bloom in cities. It grows in the fields, homes, and classrooms of rural India—where tradition and technology now shape the same future.
