IIT Launches Agentic AI Certificate
IIT Kharagpur has launched India's first fully online Executive Post Graduate Certificate focused on Generative and Agentic AI. The program is designed for working professionals, signaling a growing need for upskilling in deploying intelligent and autonomous systems in the enterprise.
The 32-week online certificate is a production-focused program designed and taught entirely by IIT Kharagpur's Computer Science & Engineering faculty. It moves beyond theoretical concepts to emphasize the design, deployment, and maintenance of production-grade AI systems, a critical skill set for enterprise environments. The curriculum is structured across five modules, beginning with foundations of Generative AI and Large Language Models before advancing to Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, model fine-tuning, and multimodal AI. The course culminates in a capstone project focused on deploying responsible and trusted AI, including the development of agentic systems that can plan, use tools, and coordinate tasks. This program emerges as the AI in the supply chain market is projected to see a compound annual growth rate of 42.7% from 2024 to 2033. Agentic AI, in particular, is moving beyond generative models to enable autonomous agents that can manage complex logistics, from optimizing supplier selection and forecasting demand to automating warehouse operations like picking and packing. The focus on agentic AI directly addresses the next wave of warehouse automation, where intelligent systems are needed to handle dynamic inventory management and real-time decision-making. While the Indian warehouse automation market is expected to reach $1.12 billion by 2029, the integration of sophisticated AI remains a key area for growth and upskilling. This initiative from India's first IIT, established in 1951, aligns with the nation's growing prominence as a global engineering research and development (ER&D) hub. India's ER&D services market is projected to grow from $121.27 billion in 2024 to $197.66 billion by 2029, with a strong focus on digital engineering and AI-driven solutions. The program is delivered in collaboration with upGrad and requires either a background in specific engineering or science disciplines or a minimum of two years of experience in the technology field. The total fee for the eight-month program is INR 1,77,000.
