Until you hear the rest of the story: ten percent can actually use AI across their entire marketing process. The tool is available. The people who know how to use it are not. The people who do the hiring know this too.
Three out of four Chief Marketing Officers now say that being good at GenAI is not a niche to have. It is a must-have for any person they hire. The expectation is not going to change. It has already changed. This is the problem that upGrad is trying to fix.

India's digital advertising market is growing fast. It is already at ₹73,800 crore, and it is not slowing down.
NASSCOM thinks the sector will need over 1.5 million digital marketing professionals, and LinkedIn has seen a forty percent increase in marketing job postings in the year. The demand is real. People are spending money. But there are not enough skilled digital marketers to fill the jobs.
In fact, 45% of employers say it is harder to find digital marketers now than it was just a year ago.

"Marketing in India is at an inflection point. The skills that got professionals into the room five years ago are no longer enough to keep them there. At upGrad, outcome-led, AI-integrated learning isn't a feature, it's the foundation," said Mayank Kumar, Co-founder, upGrad.

The skills that got people jobs five years ago are not enough to keep them now. At upGrad, we teach people using AI, and we focus on results. This is not something we do, it is the foundation of what we do."

upGrad has a partnership with MICA. One of India's best marketing schools. To offer a special course called the Advanced Certificate in AI-Powered Digital Marketing and Communication. This course is designed to teach marketers what they need to know to do their jobs today. Things like AI-powered personalisation, performance marketing, and predictive analytics.

The people who teach the course are professionals from companies like Google, Apple, Ola, and Razorpay. Over fifteen thousand people have already taken the course, and the people who finish it get jobs at companies like Flipkart, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and TCS. Some people are worried that AI will replace marketing jobs. The numbers say that is not what is happening.

AI is replacing some tasks. It is not replacing people. And it is actually creating new, better jobs that pay more. If a Social Media Executive learns AI tools, they can become a Content Strategist. If an Ad Ops professional masters AI bidding, they can become a Performance Engineer. If an SEO analyst learns about Search Generative Experience, they can become a valuable person in their company. India has some advantages that make this moment very important.

With eight hundred and six million internet users. And 46 million more coming in 2025. And an influencer marketing industry that will be worth ₹28 billion by 2026. India is not just following the digital marketing trend. It is leading it. upGrad thinks that the marketers who will define the future are the ones who are learning now.

About upGrad

upGrad is Asia's leading company for teaching people skills and developing the workforce with learners in over one hundred countries. Through partnerships with schools, like MICA upGrad offers courses that are designed to help people build careers, not get certificates.