Virudhunagar, a small town in southeastern India, is known for centuries-old temples. Yet behind its historic streets, residents are shaping the future, training artificial intelligence systems used worldwide.
From heritage to high-tech
Mohan Kumar teaches machines to recognize and predict objects. “I work in AI annotation. I collect and label data to train models. Over time, they learn to make independent decisions,” he explains.
India has long led in outsourced IT services, with cities like Bangalore and Chennai as main hubs. Recently, companies have shifted work to smaller towns, where skilled labor is abundant and costs are lower.
This movement, called cloud farming, has turned towns like Virudhunagar into emerging AI centres.
Jobs closer to home
Mohan Kumar says small-town life does not limit his career. “There’s no professional difference. We serve the same global clients and use the same tools and skills as city offices,” he says.
He works for Desicrew, founded in 2005, one of India’s first cloud farming pioneers. “We realised we could bring jobs to people instead of forcing migration,” says chief executive Mannivannan J. K. “Opportunities were concentrated in cities. We wanted to prove world-class work can come from anywhere.”
Desicrew handles software testing, content moderation, and AI dataset creation. “Currently, 30 to 40% of our work involves AI,” Mannivannan says. “That will soon rise to 75 or even 100%.”
Teaching AI to understand humans
Much of Desicrew’s work involves 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 provides that foundation.”
He stresses that rural offices can match urban tech centres. “People assume rural means outdated, but our centres have secure systems, reliable power, and fast internet. Geography is the only difference.”
About 70% of Desicrew’s workforce are women. “For many, this is their first salaried job,” Mannivannan adds. “It transforms families, providing financial security and better opportunities for their children.”
Unlocking small-town talent
NextWealth, founded in 2008, follows a similar model. Based in Bangalore, it employs 5,000 people across 11 smaller towns.
“Sixty percent of India’s graduates come from small towns, but most IT jobs are in cities,” says co-founder Mythily Ramesh. “That leaves a huge pool of first-generation graduates untapped. Their parents—farmers, tailors, or shopkeepers—make sacrifices to fund education.”
NextWealth started with back-office work but shifted to AI five years ago. “Some of the world’s most advanced algorithms are trained and validated in India’s smaller towns,” Ramesh says.
Local expertise with global impact
Nearly 70% of NextWealth’s business comes from the US. “Every AI model—from chatbots to facial recognition—relies on vast amounts of human-labelled data,” Ramesh explains. “That data forms the backbone of cloud farming jobs.”
She expects rapid growth. “In three to five years, AI and generative AI could create nearly 100 million jobs. India’s small towns can lead that wave.”
Ramesh believes India has a head start. “Countries like the Philippines may compete, but India’s scale and early adoption give a five to seven-year advantage. We must act now to maintain it.”
Challenges in rural AI
Technology advisor KS Viswanathan, formerly with India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies, calls cloud farming transformative. “Silicon Valley builds AI engines, but India’s small towns keep them running,” he says.
He believes rural India could become the world’s largest AI operations hub. “If growth continues, small-town India may replicate its IT success from two decades ago.”
Yet obstacles remain. “Internet speed and secure data centres are not always at metro standards,” Viswanathan warns. “Data protection is an ongoing concern.”
Perception is another barrier. “Clients sometimes doubt small towns can meet global standards. Trust must be earned through consistent results,” he adds.
The people behind smarter machines
At NextWealth, Dhanalakshmi Vijay fine-tunes AI models daily. When a system mistakes a denim jacket for a navy shirt, she corrects it. “Each correction teaches the AI. It’s like giving it experience — it improves with every fix,” she says.
Her work impacts millions of users. “We train AI that makes online shopping faster and more accurate,” she says. “We help machines understand human behavior better.”
A digital revolution rooted in rural India
Across India’s smaller towns, young professionals and first-generation graduates are quietly shaping global AI. From Virudhunagar to dozens of other towns, innovation thrives outside skyscrapers and city tech parks.
In the shadow of ancient temples, India’s countryside is quietly powering the future, where tradition and technology grow side by side.
