Over 17 million Indian developers now building on GitHub

Bengaluru, Oct 30

Microsoft Copilot-powered developer platform GitHub on Tuesday said there are over 17 million developers in India building on the platform, representing an increase of 28 per cent in 2024, and making India the fast-growing developer community in the world.

India also has the second-highest number of GitHub Education users, second-highest number of contributors to public generative AI projects, and the second-highest number of contributions to open source projects—underscoring India’s rise as a global technology leader, the company said in its ‘Octoverse’ report.

AI has moved beyond the hype of 2023 as Indian developers and organisations prioritise results over experimentation.

India is the second largest developer community contributing to public generative AI projects on GitHub, just behind the US, with a 79 per cent increase from last year.

India also saw a 95 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth in contributions to these projects, placing third globally, after the US and Hong Kong.

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke said that India's booming developer community is using AI to build AI in record numbers, making it evermore likely that the next great multinational will come from India.

Developers in India are the second highest contributor to open source projects on GitHub, showcasing the strength and dedication of the developer community. These efforts are shaping the future of software and directly influencing innovation on a global scale.

India’s developer community is also driving societal change through popular open source projects like ERPNext. This project from India has the most contributions in GitHub’s ‘For Good First Issue’, which connects contributors with projects addressing societal challenges and promoting sustainable development.

The report revealed that India has the second-highest number of GitHub Education users, driven in part by the National Education Policy of 2020, which requires schools to include coding and AI in their curriculum.

GitHub predicts that India will surpass the US to become the world’s largest developer community by 2028.