TeamLease Digital launches POWER, as India’s AI talent gap hits 53%, with women returnship programs post 70% conversion rates into full-time roles

• With India’s AI talent gap at 53%, TeamLease Digital launches POWER to bring experienced women back into the workforce through structured, paid re-entry programmes
• An average of 70% of participants in major returnship programs move into permanent roles, with some industry use cases even showing 80%
• Women now hold 36.2% of tech jobs in India.

30, March 2026: TeamLease Digital, a global leader in specialised talent solutions, has announced the launch of POWER (Professional Opportunity for Workforce Empowerment & Reboot), an initiative aimed at bringing experienced professionals back into India’s growing AI workforce. The first programme under POWER, the AI Career Accelerator: Returnship Edition, has completed its inaugural cohort, with women graduating and entering the talent pipeline for AI and digital roles across the country.

Under POWER, TeamLease Digital has introduced the AI Career Accelerator: Returnship Edition, a structured program for experienced women looking to re-enter the workforce in AI and digital roles. The program’s first cohort has graduated, stepping into a job market where demand for AI talent is outpacing supply and salaries have risen 2–4x as a result.

Apart from the initiative, TeamLease Digital’s comprehensive analysis highlights how women’s returnship programs are transcending their origins as diversity-driven efforts.

Re-entry programs moving from the margins to the mainstream

With a 53% gap in AI-ready professionals, companies today are actively reskilling experienced women for positions in AI/ML engineering, data science, AI product management, and GenAI-driven functions, and the results are encouraging. TeamLease Digital’s analysis shows that returnship programs are becoming a sought-after business strategy, especially with hiring costs rising and skilled talent in short supply.

These structured, paid pathways give mid-career professionals, many of whom stepped away for caregiving or personal reasons, a clear route back into the workforce. And the shift is being noticed across sectors, with organisations embedding re-entry programs into their core workforce planning rather than treating them as one-off diversity efforts.

Strong outcomes across conversion, retention, and performance

The data from returnship programs is noteworthy. It shows that conversion rates, i.e., the share of participants who move into permanent roles, average 70% across major programs, with certain industry use cases often reaching the 80% mark. The analysis also shows that returners bring qualities that make a real difference: domain experience, sound professional judgement, and strong commitment.

Leading global companies are moving ahead with the model already in place

The analysis draws on established examples of organizations that have embedded returnships into their long-term talent strategy. Goldman Sachs pioneered the model in 2008, creating structured pathways for professionals with extended career breaks, while JPMorgan Chase has operationalized this through a 15-week paid re-entry program designed to transition experienced professionals back into full-time roles. Industry benchmarks suggest that a majority of participants in leading programs secure full-time employment, underscoring the effectiveness of the model. In India, Wipro’s ‘Begin Again’ program reports ~80% retention among returnee hires in FY24–25, with internal assessments indicating cost parity with conventional hiring, reinforcing returnships as a sustainable and scalable workforce strategy.

Women joining AI upskilling programs

An analysis of the upskilling trends in the industry reflects momentum. Women’s share in STEM upskilling programs has also grown from 22% in 2018–19 to 33% in 2023, which directly translates to employers hiring more women in STEM roles, and women now hold 36.2% of tech jobs in India. Coursera reported that women’s enrollment in GenAI courses has grown 195% year-on-year in 2025, with 3.6 million adoption of AI courses, across the country.

Inclusion: A business performance strategy

TeamLease Digital’s observations reveal that organisations are increasingly viewing workforce inclusion as a driver of business outcomes. Organisations with mature inclusion practices consistently demonstrate stronger workforce outcomes, including higher engagement and retention. Globally, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 25%-30%  more likely to outperform financially, while Indian employers are increasingly institutionalizing inclusion through structured hiring and talent programs—signaling a clear shift from intent to impact.

Commenting on the evolving trend, Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital, said, “India doesn’t have an AI talent shortage—it has an access gap. A significant portion of experienced talent sits outside the workforce today: women on career breaks, ready to return. With structured returnship pathways, this cohort brings proven domain expertise, maturity, and execution discipline—making them high-impact contributors to AI and digital teams from day one.”

She added, “Our research indicates a 25–50% talent shortage across AI, Cloud, and Cybersecurity, with just one qualified engineer available for every ten GenAI roles. This widening gap underscores a fundamental mismatch between supply and rapidly accelerating demand. Addressing this requires activating new, scalable talent pipelines that focus on deployability and real business outcomes. In this context, structured re-entry programs present a timely and strategic opportunity—organisations that invest in them as serious talent engines will be far better positioned to compete in an AI-led future.”