India's Engineers Face 'AI Confidence-Capability Gap': Study Reveals Skill Shortage

• A joint study by Scaler and CyberMedia Research (CMR) reveals a significant "AI confidence–capability gap" among Indian engineers.
• 89% of engineers believe they are AI-ready, but only 19% are deeply involved in building AI/ML systems, indicating a large disparity.
• Key obstacles to upskilling include lack of time (55%) and financial barriers to quality training (49%).
• Women engineers face disproportionate challenges, with 65% citing work-life balance pressures and 56% lacking AI mentors.
• Recruiters struggle to find genuinely AI-skilled candidates (86%), leading to tighter standards and reliance on practical validation.