GitHub now has 27 million developers in India, up from 21.9 million recorded in October 2025, making the country the platform's fastest-growing developer community globally. More than two million of those developers joined in 2026 alone, according to company data.
India accounts for roughly one in every seven new developers joining GitHub and now makes up over 15% of the platform's global base, which exceeds 180 million users. The growth sits at the center of GitHub's ambition to reach one billion developers worldwide by 2030. The company has projected India could reach 57.5 million developers by that date.
Why GitHub Says India Is Growing Faster
Kyle Daigle, GitHub's chief operating officer, said the surge reflects rapid adoption of AI tools across the software development ecosystem in India. He told Business Standard that the shift has moved beyond simple code generation to agent-assisted workflows spanning building, testing, deployment, and operations.
Daigle said the growth cannot be explained by population alone. He pointed to a pipeline of younger, AI-native developers entering the ecosystem, with students and teenagers contributing to projects. GitHub's own Octoverse report found that about 80% of new developers joining the platform use Copilot within their first week.
GitHub's data suggests AI is a baseline expectation for the next generation of developers. Daigle said more people who are not traditional developers are now building end-to-end features using agents, and that GitHub's billion-developer target depends on making software creation accessible to people who may not want to make coding their full-time career.
Open-Source Output, Not Just Sign-Ups
The growth story extends beyond account creation. Developers in India have made over 7.5 million contributions to open-source AI projects on GitHub, according to the company. The Times of India reported that India is now the world's largest open-source contributor base and the second-largest source of open-source contributions overall, behind only the United States.
Several India-origin projects are gaining global adoption. GitHub highlighted Hyperswitch, ERPNext, ToolJet, and Bruno as examples of open-source software built by Indian developers that now have international user bases.
GitHub's Investment in India
GitHub has been expanding its presence in the country through hackathons, campus programs, and developer meetups. The company works with more than 100 campus experts across India and offers access to its Student Developer Pack. It has also partnered with organizations including Infosys and Hack Club to support learning among students and professionals.
The platform has become more central to Microsoft's broader AI strategy over the past year, with closer integration into Microsoft's CoreAI unit. Microsoft, which acquired GitHub in 2018, has committed $17.5 billion in India through 2029 for cloud and AI infrastructure.
India's rising share of GitHub's developer base and open-source contributions will likely affect which projects gain visibility next, particularly in AI tooling.
