Virudhunagar, a tranquil town in southeastern India, is better known for its ancient temples than for technology. Yet just beyond its centuries-old streets, locals are training artificial intelligence systems that power global industries.
From heritage to high tech
Mohan Kumar spends his days teaching machines to think. “I work in AI annotation. I collect data, label it, and train AI models so they can recognize and predict objects. Over time, they learn to make decisions on their own,” he explains.
India has long led in outsourced IT services, with Bangalore and Chennai as its main centres. Now, that work is expanding to smaller towns, where office space is cheaper and workers are plentiful.
This shift, known as cloud farming, is transforming rural economies. In places like Virudhunagar, high-tech jobs now sit alongside ancient traditions.
Creating opportunity without migration
Mohan Kumar doesn’t feel limited by his location. “There’s no professional difference,” he says. “Whether we’re in a big city or a small town, we work with the same clients in the US and Europe. The skills and training 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 move to cities,” says chief executive Mannivannan J. K. “For decades, cities had all the opportunities. Our goal is to create world-class careers near home and prove that quality work can come from anywhere.”
Desicrew provides services such as software testing, AI data preparation, and content moderation. Around 30 to 40% of its business already involves AI. “That will soon reach 75 to 100%,” says Mannivannan.
Training AI to understand language and culture
A major part of Desicrew’s AI work involves transcription—converting speech into text. “Machines understand text far better,” Mannivannan explains. “For AI to sound natural, it must learn how people speak in different dialects and languages. Transcription is the foundation that allows machines to understand human communication.”
He says working from smaller towns offers unique strengths. “People think rural means outdated, but our centres match urban IT hubs in every way—secure access, reliable internet, and constant power. The only thing that changes is geography.”
Around 70% of Desicrew’s employees are women. “For many, this is their first salaried job,” Mannivannan says. “It brings stability, confidence, and better opportunities for their families and children.”
Empowering small-town graduates
NextWealth, founded in 2008, also recognised the potential of rural India. Headquartered in Bangalore, the company employs 5,000 people across 11 offices in smaller towns.
“Sixty percent of India’s graduates come from small towns, yet most IT companies hire only in metros,” says co-founder and managing director Mythily Ramesh. “That leaves a huge pool of bright, first-generation graduates untapped. Their parents are farmers, tailors, or police officers who often take loans to fund their education.”
NextWealth began with corporate outsourcing but pivoted to AI work five years ago. “Some of the world’s most advanced algorithms are being trained and validated in small-town India,” Ramesh says.
Small towns, global clients
About 70% of NextWealth’s business comes from the United States. “Every AI model—from chatbots to facial recognition—depends on massive amounts of human-labelled data,” Ramesh explains. “That data is the backbone of AI and cloud farming.”
She believes this is just the beginning. “In the next three to five years, AI and generative AI will create nearly 100 million jobs in training, validation, and real-time processing. India’s small towns can lead that transformation.”
Ramesh sees India’s early start as a major advantage. “Countries like the Philippines may grow in this space, but India’s scale and head start give it a five to seven-year edge. We must build on that before others catch up.”
Obstacles to overcome
Technology expert KS Viswanathan, formerly with India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies, says the rise of rural AI is reshaping the industry. “Silicon Valley may design the AI engines, but the daily work that keeps them running now comes from India’s cloud farming sector,” he says.
He believes small-town India is at a turning point. “If this momentum continues, rural India could become the world’s biggest AI hub—just as it became the global IT hub two decades ago.”
Still, challenges remain. “High-speed internet and secure data centres are not always consistent outside major cities,” Viswanathan warns. “That makes data protection a constant concern.”
He also highlights issues of perception. “Some international clients still doubt that small towns can meet strict data security standards. Trust must be earned through steady, high-quality results.”
Fine-tuning the machines that learn
At NextWealth, Dhanalakshmi Vijay works on improving AI accuracy. When a model mistakes a blue denim jacket for a navy shirt, she steps in to fix it. “Each correction feeds back into the system,” she says. “The AI learns from its mistakes and improves, just like software updating itself.”
Her team’s work affects millions of users. “We help train AI systems that make your online shopping faster and more accurate,” she says proudly. “We’re teaching machines to see the world the way humans do.”
The digital revolution beyond the cities
From Virudhunagar to hundreds of small towns, India’s rural workforce is quietly shaping the world’s digital future. Their work proves that innovation doesn’t depend on skyscrapers or city skylines—it can grow from the fields, classrooms, and homes of rural India, where technology and tradition now walk hand in hand.
