Telangana Setting Up Data Annotation Cluster

The ITE&C Department has signed an MoU with Tika Data, one of the growing data annotation companies in the country. Under the MoU, Tika Data shall set up 3 rural data annotation centres, tentatively in Jakranpalle, Armoor, and Dichpally mandals of the Nizamabad district, and shall train and employ 100+ local resources. The partnership emerged from a data annotation roundtable that was hosted by Telangana AI Mission (T-AIM), an initiative of Govt. of Telangana and powered by Nasscom.

The partnership marks the initiation of setting up a Data Annotation Cluster in the Telangana State and is enshrined in two principles: Supporting the AI ecosystem and Enabling Rural IT Economy. The setting up of such rural data annotation centres in the State will lead to more employment opportunities for the professionals from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The larger objective regarding this data annotation cluster is to provide services globally and the intent is to position the state as a go-to destination for data annotation services, much like it has the pharma and IT clusters.

The growth of the data annotation industry is driven by the growth in AI/ML based solutions. This is because the quality of AI/ML model is dependent on the quality of data, and as things stand, 80+%time of an AI project goes into activities like data annotation which could otherwise have been devoted to building the algorithm. Globally, India is emerging as the key centre for data annotation and the market size is expected to reach $7 billion by 2030 and the potential to engage a workforce up to 1 million.

Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Government of Telangana, quoted that "Data Annotation forms a critical part of AI ecosystem, but is also a relatively low skill job. Therefore, following the vision to expand IT economy in rural parts of the state, we are building a data annotation cluster in rural districts. The partnership with Tika Data is one of many that should follow to establish Telangana as the global hub for high-quality data annotation services."

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