Almost three out of five Indian employers are willing to pay more than 15% higher salary to fresh graduates with GenAI micro-credentials, the highest proportion among all countries surveyed, edtech firm Coursera said in its Micro-Credentials Impact Report 2026.
Based on insights from more than 3,500 employers, learners and higher education leaders across seven countries, including India, the report found that all Indian employers surveyed were willing to offer higher starting salaries to graduates holding micro-credentials, or focused programmes designed to sharpen a specific competency.
India Among Strongest Markets For Adoption
The report found that such credentials are rapidly reshaping how Indian employers hire, evaluate and reward graduate talent. As many as 81% of Indian employers said candidates with micro-credentials moved faster through hiring pipelines, eight percentage points above the global average, placing India among the strongest markets surveyed for adoption of such programmes.
Some 58% of Indian employers said they were willing to pay more than 15% higher salaries specifically to graduates with GenAI micro-credentials, again the highest share among the countries surveyed.
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Findings Align With NEP, National Credit Framework
Coursera said the findings reflect India's broader push toward skill-based education under the National Education Policy 2020 and the National Credit Framework, both aimed at making higher education more flexible, multidisciplinary and employability-focused. Nearly 97% of respondents said entry-level hires with micro-credentials performed better in their first year on the job. Besides India, the survey also covered the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Ashutosh Gupta, managing director for India and Asia-Pacific at Coursera, said employers increasingly valued candidates who could demonstrate practical, job-ready skills from day one as AI reshapes the workplace, with micro-credentials becoming the standard way for learners to validate expertise in fast-moving fields. He said the findings underscored the need to integrate micro-credentials into higher education to equip students with the skills employers value most.
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With PTI inputs
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