India has emerged as one of the world’s leading destinations for artificial intelligence (AI) and STEM talent, even as global mobility of highly skilled professionals declined sharply in 2025, according to a report, BCG Top Talent Tracker Q2 2026, released by the Boston Consulting Group.

The latest edition of BCG’s proprietary tracker found that India now ranks among the world’s top three destinations for both AI and STEM talent. The country holds around 6 per cent of globally mobile AI talent and 7 per cent of STEM talent, underscoring its growing importance in the global race for high-skilled workers.

Notably, India recorded the largest single-year increase in AI talent share among major destinations, gaining 1.3 percentage points in 2025. It also increased its share across all four categories tracked by BCG:

Highly skilled talent (+0.2 percentage points),

STEM (+0.7),

AI (+1.3),

Research talent (+0.3)

The report attributes part of India’s rise to the return of highly skilled non-resident Indians, which has strengthened the country’s domestic talent base. However, India continues to remain the world’s largest net exporter of highly skilled professionals, including AI, STEM, and research talent.

“India continues to be a critical cog in the wheel in every major talent category globally,” said Abhishek Bhatia, Managing Director and Partner, India Leader – Global Advantage Practice, BCG. He added that governments should focus on building state and city-level innovation hubs to attract and retain top talent.

Globally, the movement of highly skilled professionals fell from 3.7 million in 2024 to 3.3 million in 2025 — a decline of 11.6 per cent, or roughly 430,000 fewer movers than the previous year. The slowdown was particularly steep among specialists, with STEM talent mobility falling 13 per cent, AI talent 12 per cent, and research professionals 19 per cent.

The BCG tracker analysed real-time mobility data on 221 million highly skilled professionals across more than 200 destinations through the end of 2025. This year’s edition introduced a new category — research talent comprising PhD holders — seen as a leading indicator of where future science and innovation will concentrate.

Despite tighter immigration policies worldwide, competition for AI expertise is intensifying. According to BCG, countries that lead in talent for a given technology are 17 times more likely to also lead in that technology, highlighting the strategic importance of attracting and retaining skilled workers.

Among other global shifts, the United Arab Emirates emerged as a rising talent hub, rapidly closing the gap with the UK in both highly skilled and AI talent rankings. However, Canada fell from the top three to seventh place in attracting highly skilled workers.

Saudi Arabia recorded the highest talent retention ratio among major destinations at 2.6 times, highlighting its growing ability to retain the talent it attracts.

In Europe, France and Spain registered gains across all talent categories, outperforming many of their regional peers. Germany, meanwhile, rose to third place globally as a destination for research talent, reflecting a broader shift of PhD-level professionals toward continental Europe as traditional anglophone hubs lose ground.