Virudhunagar, a peaceful town in southeastern India, is famous for temples that have stood for thousands of years. Yet among its historic streets, locals are building the future—training artificial intelligence that powers the world’s technology.
Ancient town, modern mission
Mohan Kumar spends his days teaching machines how to learn. “I work in AI annotation. I collect and label data to train AI models that recognize and predict objects. Over time, they learn to make decisions independently,” he says.
India has long led in outsourcing and IT services, with cities like Bangalore and Chennai at the centre. But now, companies are moving deeper into rural areas where costs are lower and talent is growing.
This movement, known as cloud farming, is transforming small towns like Virudhunagar into important hubs for AI work.
Jobs that come to the people
Mohan Kumar doesn’t think he’s missing out by staying in his hometown. “There’s no real difference professionally,” he says. “We work with the same international clients and use the same skills as in big cities.”
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,” says chief executive Mannivannan J. K. “Cities have had too many opportunities for too long. Our goal is to create great careers in rural areas.”
Desicrew provides a mix of services—software testing, AI data preparation, and content moderation. “Currently, 30 to 40% of our work involves AI,” Mannivannan says. “Soon, it will be 75 to 100%.”
Teaching machines to listen and learn
A big part of Desicrew’s AI work involves transcription—turning speech into text. “Machines understand text much better,” Mannivannan explains. “For AI to sound human, it must learn different accents and dialects. That starts with transcription.”
He insists that being based in a smaller town doesn’t limit them. “People assume rural means outdated, but our centres are as advanced as those in cities. We have secure data access, stable power, and fast internet. The only difference is geography.”
Around 70% of Desicrew’s employees are women. “For many, this is their first paid job,” Mannivannan says. “It changes everything—from family income to children’s education.”
Unlocking India’s hidden potential
NextWealth, another early cloud farming company founded in 2008, has followed a similar path. Based in Bangalore, it employs 5,000 people across 11 offices in smaller towns.
“Sixty percent of India’s graduates come from rural areas, but most IT companies only recruit in cities,” says co-founder and managing director Mythily Ramesh. “That leaves out a massive pool of skilled, first-generation graduates. Their parents are farmers, tailors, or small traders who work hard to fund their education.”
NextWealth started with traditional outsourcing, then shifted to AI work 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 technology
About 70% of NextWealth’s work now comes from the United States. “Every AI model—from chat systems to facial recognition—needs large volumes of human-labelled data,” Ramesh explains. “That’s the foundation of what we do.”
She expects that demand to rise sharply. “In the next three to five years, AI and generative AI will create about 100 million jobs in data training and validation. India’s small towns can be at the heart of that growth.”
Ramesh believes India has a clear advantage. “Countries like the Philippines may compete, but India’s scale and early start give us a five to seven-year lead. We should use it while it lasts.”
Challenges and perceptions
Technology advisor KS Viswanathan, who previously worked with India’s main outsourcing association, says the shift to rural AI is crucial. “Silicon Valley builds the AI engines, but India’s cloud farming industry keeps them running,” he explains.
He believes India is reaching a defining moment. “If this growth continues, small-town India could become the world’s biggest hub for AI operations—just as it did for IT two decades ago.”
Still, there are challenges. “High-speed internet and secure data centres aren’t always consistent in smaller towns,” Viswanathan says. “That can raise concerns about data protection.”
And perception remains a hurdle. “Many international clients still doubt that rural centres can meet strict security standards,” he adds. “They need proof through performance.”
Fine-tuning the digital brain
At NextWealth, Dhanalakshmi Vijay refines AI systems to make them smarter. When a model mistakes a blue denim jacket for a navy shirt, she corrects it. “Each fix improves the system,” she says. “It’s like updating software—it learns and performs better over time.”
Her work has real-world effects. “Our team helps train the AI that powers online shopping and customer tools,” she says. “We make technology more accurate and human.”
A quiet digital revolution
From Virudhunagar to dozens of other small towns, a silent transformation is reshaping India’s countryside. Young professionals and first-generation graduates are training the next generation of artificial intelligence.
Their work proves that innovation doesn’t belong only to cities. It grows just as strongly in rural India—where ancient culture and cutting-edge technology now exist side by side.
