Virudhunagar, a calm town in southeastern India, has temples that trace back thousands of years. Yet among its ancient streets, a modern revolution is underway—locals are training artificial intelligence systems that shape the digital world.
From ancient heritage to digital horizons
Mohan Kumar spends his workdays helping machines learn. “I work in AI annotation. I collect and label data to train AI models so they can recognize and predict objects. Over time, they learn to make decisions independently,” he says.
India has long been a leader in outsourced IT services, with Bangalore and Chennai as established hubs. But now, that expertise is moving into rural regions where office space and labour cost less.
The trend, called cloud farming, is growing quickly. Small towns like Virudhunagar are turning into centres for AI development and data training.
Building global careers from small towns
Mohan Kumar doesn’t feel he’s missing out by staying away from a big city. “There’s no difference professionally,” he says. “Whether in a metro or a small town, we work with the same clients from the US and Europe. The skills and standards are identical.”
He works for Desicrew, a company founded in 2005 that pioneered cloud farming in India. “We realised we could bring jobs to people instead of forcing them to migrate to cities,” says chief executive Mannivannan J. K. “Cities have dominated opportunity for too long. We wanted to prove that world-class work can come from anywhere.”
Desicrew provides services such as software testing, content moderation, and data preparation for AI. Around 30 to 40% of its business now involves artificial intelligence. “Very soon, that will rise to 75 or even 100%,” Mannivannan predicts.
Teaching machines to understand language
A key part of Desicrew’s AI work is transcription—turning speech into text. “Machines understand text far better,” Mannivannan explains. “For AI to sound natural, it must learn how people speak across accents and dialects. Transcription builds that understanding.”
He says the rural setting is no disadvantage. “People assume rural means backward, but our centres match city IT hubs—secure data access, fast internet, and steady power. The only difference is geography.”
About 70% of Desicrew’s employees are women. “For many, this is their first salaried job,” says Mannivannan. “It changes families—offering stability, independence, and better education for their children.”
Small towns, big opportunities
NextWealth, founded in 2008, saw the same potential in India’s smaller towns. Based in Bangalore, the company employs 5,000 people across 11 rural offices.
“Sixty percent of India’s graduates come from small towns, but most IT companies hire only in metros,” says co-founder and managing director Mythily Ramesh. “That leaves behind a large pool of bright, first-generation graduates. Their parents are farmers, weavers, tailors, and police officers who often take loans to fund education.”
NextWealth began with back-office outsourcing for corporations but shifted toward AI five years ago. “Some of the world’s most advanced algorithms are being trained and validated in India’s smaller towns,” Ramesh says.
India’s edge in the AI economy
About 70% of NextWealth’s clients are based in the US. “Every AI system—from conversational models to facial recognition—depends on vast amounts of human-labelled data,” Ramesh explains. “That’s the core of our business.”
She believes the potential is enormous. “In the next three to five years, AI and generative AI will create about 100 million jobs in training, validation, and live processing. India’s small towns can drive that change.”
Ramesh says India’s early start offers a strong advantage. “Countries like the Philippines may grow fast, but India’s scale and head start give us a five to seven-year edge. We must use that time wisely.”
Challenges on the digital frontier
Technology advisor KS Viswanathan, formerly with India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies, sees both progress and obstacles. “Silicon Valley may design the AI engines, but the day-to-day work that keeps them running now comes from India’s cloud farming industry,” he says.
He believes rural India stands at a major turning point. “If cloud farming keeps expanding, small-town India could become the world’s largest AI hub, much like it became a global IT hub two decades ago.”
Still, there are hurdles. “High-speed internet and secure data centres are not always consistent outside major cities,” he warns. “That makes data protection a continuing challenge.”
Even when the infrastructure is strong, perception can hold back progress. “Many international clients assume small towns can’t meet security standards. That trust must be earned through steady, reliable performance,” Viswanathan adds.
The people behind machine intelligence
At NextWealth, Dhanalakshmi Vijay helps fine-tune AI systems. When a model confuses a blue denim jacket with a navy shirt, she steps in to correct it. “Those corrections feed back into the system,” she says. “Each update improves the model’s accuracy, just like software getting regular upgrades.”
Her work affects millions. “Our team helps train AI systems that make your online shopping smoother and smarter,” she says proudly. “We help machines understand the world one correction at a time.”
Where the digital future takes root
From Virudhunagar to other small towns across India, a silent revolution is unfolding. Young professionals and first-generation graduates are building the backbone of global artificial intelligence. Their work shows that innovation doesn’t only grow in glass towers—it thrives in classrooms, homes, and offices spread across the fields of rural India.
