Exploring Artificial Intelligence Career Paths: Opportunities in 2025

Uncover The Power Of Natural Language Processing (NLP) In Data Science

From chatbots to sentiment analysis, Natural Language Processing is shaping the future of AI-driven solutions. During an Expert Edge session with Shine.Com, Ritesh Srivastava, an expert in data science, shared valuable insights into the world of NLP, its applications, and how professionals can build a successful career in this field.

What is Natural Language Processing (NLP)?

NLP, or Natural Language Processing, is a field of artificial intelligence that helps computers understand and interact with humans.It allows machines to read, listen and then respond to human text for speech in a way that feels more natural making it easier for us to communicate with technology. It's the technology behind voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and chatbots like ChatGPT. 

Why is NLP Growing Rapidly?

According to Ritesh, the growth of NLP is driven by three key factors:

Increased interaction with technology: More people rely on AI-driven voice assistants and chatbots.

Advancements in deep learning: Machine learning techniques have evolved, improving NLP models.

The rise of unstructured data: Data from social media, emails, and customer reviews is driving NLP-based sentiment analysis and insights.

Building a Career in NLP

Many professionals wonder how to get started in NLP. According to Ritesh, a solid foundation in computer science and linguistics is required. He recommends following three steps to get started:

Learn programming languages: So first of all, you need to understand a programming language like Python which is widely used in NLP due to its rich libraries. NLTK and SpaCy and Hugging Face are the libraries which are commonly used right now.

Dive into statistics: A certain amount of statistics is also required to build NLP, so understanding basic knowledge of statistics and probability is required.

Get hands on the NLP task: Practice text classification, sentiment analysis and language translation.

Common Challenges in NLP Development

While NLP offers amazing opportunities, there are common challenges that data scientists should know:

Data Bias: If your training data contains biased languages or stereotypes, the model can learn and reinforce those biases.This could lead to unfair results.

Context Understanding: Words have multiple meanings. For example, the word bank, it would mean a bank also where we submit our money or bank would be a river bank also. So you don't set proper context in which the data is being used. NLP models may misinterpret intent.

Overfitting: It is one very common problem and not only in NLP and all the machine learning models handling noisy data. It is difficult to process ambiguous statements like sarcastic comments or idioms.

The Role of Prompt Engineering in NLP

Prompt engineering is crucial for ensuring that AI models generate accurate and relevant responses. It helps improve model performance, reduce ambiguity, and structure queries effectively. Ritesh emphasizes that prompt engineering plays a key role in refining AI-generated content.

Industry Applications of NLP

NLP is widely used across industries, and Ritesh shared practical examples:

Customer Service: Chatbots can handle queries 24/7, reducing dependency on human agents and optimizing costs.

Finance & Payments: NLP helps in sentiment analysis of customer feedback and voice-based fraud detection.

Healthcare & Bioinformatics: NLP extracts relevant data from research papers and assists in genomic data analysis.

Manufacturing: AI-driven NLP models help in predictive maintenance and quality control.

Final Advice for NLP Enthusiasts

For those looking to enter the field, Ritesh shares his final words of wisdom: Begin with a linguistic model and try working on text summarization, text classification, or sentiment analysis. These are primitive models of NLP. You'll find these kinds of models on almost every online learning platform, and once you can build them on your own, you will gain Consistency is the key, don't get frustrated on the first day itself. If you have a passion for data, go for it.

40 Under 40 Data Scientists Awards 2025 – Meet The Winners

Amidst the three days of AI and ML workshops, conferences, presentations, and tech talks at the Machine Learning Developers Summit (MLDS) 2025, about 40 dynamic data scientists were presented with the 40 Under 40 Data Scientists Award on Thursday. 

This award recognises India's top data scientists and their achievements in the machine learning and analytics industry.

This year's winners are driving real impact at some of the world's most influential companies, including Razorpay, HSBC, Genpact, PepsiCo, Bloomberg, Ford Motors, Paytm, Tata, Wells Fargo, Accenture, and more. 

They are creating AI solutions that improve efficiency and developing data models that prioritise privacy. More than just driving innovation, they are also fostering a culture of learning and growth.

Abhinav Vajpayee, Senior Manager, Analytics at Razorpay Software Private Limited

A hands-on innovator in data-driven business strategy, Abhinav takes part in optimising payments, ads, and content acquisition. His solutions at Razorpay, Swiggy, and Vuclip boosted retention, ad revenue, and cost efficiency, earning industry recognition.

Abhishek Kumar, VP, Analytics Lead at HSBC

Abhishek is a data science leader known for high-impact analytics solutions across banking, FMCG, and retail. His work spans forecasting, pricing models, and customer insights, earning multiple awards for innovation and business impact.

Akhil Makol, Principal Engineer at NatWest Group

Akhil leads the data strategy and cloud architecture for commercial & institutional domains. He drives AI and analytics adoption by aligning data products with banking standards and leveraging AWS Data Lake.

Akshay Jain, AGM – Lead Digital Downstream at Hindalco Industries Ltd

Akshay Jain is a data scientist transforming aluminium manufacturing with AI, predictive analytics, and Industry 4.0. He leads a team that optimises operations and drives AI adoption on the shop floor, focusing on people-centric implementation.

Amresh Kumar, General Manager at Niva Bupa Health Insurance

Amresh, a data scientist with more than 15 years of experience, has worked across insurance, banking, and digital marketing. He has successfully implemented renewal, planning, and reinsurance models, with certifications in advanced insurance and Google Analytics.

Ankit Sati, Senior Manager at Genpact

Ankit is a vital member of Genpact's AI/ML practices. He specialises in computer vision and GenAI solutions. With more than seven years of experience across industries, he is also an active Kaggle competitor and hackathon enthusiast.

Anup Kumaar Goenka, Deputy Director of Data Science at PepsiCo.

Anup is a data science innovator known for AI-driven solutions in forecasting and automation. He developed an award-winning AI meeting summarisation tool and led predictive analytics projects optimising supply chains and financial planning.

Anupam Tiwari, Data Science Manager at GoTo Company

Anupam contributed to GenAI for Southeast Asian languages, developing Sahabat AI, a suite of LLMs for Indonesian dialects. His models, openly available on Hugging Face, support AI innovation and adoption in Indonesia.

Arjit Jain, Co-Founder and CTO at TurboML

Arjit is an ML researcher specialising in real-time machine learning for fraud detection and personalisation. A former Google researcher and IIT Bombay graduate, he has published award-winning papers with more than 200 citations.

Avinash Kanumuru, Senior Manager – Data Science & Engineering at Niyo

Avinash is a data science contributor who publishes acclaimed articles on platforms like 'Towards Data Science'. He has also developed open-source Python libraries (ml-utils, pyspark-utils), simplifying ML workflows and enhancing industry best practices.

Debanjan Mahata, Senior ML Research Engineer at Bloomberg

Debanjan Mahata is a leading researcher in NLP, machine learning, and Document AI, with publications in top conferences and patented innovations in document analysis. His recent work focuses on multimodal Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for DocVQA, enhancing financial and ESG data extraction.

Dr. Shital Patil, Solution Architect at Robert Bosch

Dr. Shital, a Prime Minister's Fellowship recipient, specialises in AI-driven machinery condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. With four patents, she excels in fault diagnosis, XAI research, and solution architecture across India and the Middle East.

Dr. Vikram Singh, Senior Vice President of AI & Digital at EightBit AI Private Limited

Dr. Vikram is a researcher specialising in image super-resolution, deblurring, and deep learning. His work includes high-frequency refinement techniques and advanced neural networks for sharper image and video processing.

Gaurav Mhatre, Director at Tiger Analytics

Gaurav, a data science leader with 13+ years of experience, drives AI innovations across CPG, healthcare, telecom, and eCommerce. At Tiger Analytics, he has led route-to-market analytics, pet food optimisation, and 5G network routing using cutting-edge AI algorithms.

Gopinath Chidambaram, Global Technical Director, AI/ML & Cloud at Ford Motors

Gopinath, an AI/ML professional, holds five patents in autonomous vehicle perception and has filed two more in AI-driven monitoring systems. He is also co-authoring Gen AI Untrained, an upcoming book on AI concepts and applications.

Kantesh Malviya, Associate Vice President – Analytics at Paytm

Kantesh is a data science leader known for mentorship and thought leadership. He has spoken at IIT Bombay and developed innovative analytics solutions, driving user engagement and revenue growth across industries.

Kulbhooshan Patil, Head of Data Science and Analytics at TATA AIG General Insurance Company

Kulbhooshan is an award-winning AI leader recognised for innovation in risk management and user experience in insurance. His AI-driven solutions have earned multiple industry accolades, including the Best AI Technology Implementation of the Year and Outstanding AI & ML Solution Provider.

Mahima Bansod, Data Science and Analytics Leader at LogicMonitor

Mahima is a Data and AI leader with a decade of experience driving digital transformation at companies like Salesforce and Siemens. She has implemented ML models for customer retention, achieving a 94% renewal rate and 40% growth in product adoption.

Mahish Ramanujam, Associate Director – Analytics at Games24X7

Mahish led an award-winning project, developing a game-wise adaptive user-engagement model inspired by cricket analytics. The model boosted D30 LTV by 20% while reducing spending by 15%.

Mehuli Mukherjee, Vice President at Wells Fargo

Mehuli, VP at Wells Fargo, is an analytics leader specialising in GenAI, LLMs, and NLP. A gold medallist and PhD researcher, she is developing an Indian Sign Language recognition system while mentoring in AI and advocating for social impact.

Namit Chopra, VP-2 at EXL Service

Namit developed EXL Property Insights Solution (patent pending) and applies NLP/GenAI to insurance claims. His work includes LLM-based claim summarisation, fraud detection, and cause-of-loss identification.

Namita Khurana, Data Scientist Associate Director at Accenture

Namita is a leader in Revenue Growth Management (RGM), specialising in pricing, promotion, and assortment analytics across global markets. She has developed patented solutions, including AI-driven conversational tools for strategy optimisation and decision-making.

Nandita Saini, Manager – AI & Cognitive Solutions at e& enterprise

Nandita Saini led the productisation of e& Enterprise's GenAI-based Utilities Copilot. She successfully turned the concept into a launched product, driving innovation.

Nishant Ranjan, Head of Analytics at Godrej Consumer Products

Nishant developed innovative pricing, forecasting, and AI-powered analytics models, including a first-of-its-kind promotion attribution model. He also pioneered MLOps best practices, enabling scalable machine learning deployment.

Pankaj Goel, Associate Vice President – Innovations at BA Continuum India Pvt Ltd (Bank of America subsidiary)

Pankaj Goel pioneered demand prediction in the CPG industry, analysing country-level demand impact on product lines, earning recognition from Procter & Gamble. He recently completed a proof of concept on digital transformation using LLM/GenAI.  

Pavak Biswal, Senior Manager at Merkle  

Pavak, a data science leader with 13+ years of experience, has driven business impact through AI and analytics innovations. He designed GenAI-powered chatbots, optimised pricing models, and led multimillion-dollar analytics projects across industries.  

Pawan Kumar Rajpoot, Lead Data Scientist at TIFIN 

Pawan has more than 10 years of experience in NLP research and development and has been the winner of 10-plus international competitions. His previous work experience includes companies like Tact.Ai, Rakuten India and Huawei.

Puspanjali Sarma, Senior Manager – AI at ServiceNow

Puspanjali is an AI and data science expert specialising in AI product management, NLP, and predictive analytics. Her work at ServiceNow and beyond has driven innovative, AI-driven solutions with measurable business impact.  

Rajaram Kalaimani, Senior Principal Data Scientist at Mindsprint

Rajaram is the architect behind Mindverse, a GenAI platform, and precision agriculture solutions for the agri supply chain. His innovations are now hosted on Google, expanding AI capabilities at Mindsprint.  

Ritwik Chattaraj, Data Science Manager/Senior Data Scientist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia  

Ritwik Chattaraj is a data science leader with expertise in Generative AI, LLMs, and robotics. He has led AI/ML innovations at major banks, published extensively, and received multiple excellence awards.  

Sachin Kumar Tiwari, Deputy Vice President at Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company  

Sachin Kumar has led key AI and analytics projects, including GenAI chatbots, customer genomics, and sales governance models. His work spans predictive modelling, sentiment analysis, and geospatial analytics to drive business decisions.  

Sairam Mushyam, Head of Data and AI (SVP) at Zupee  

Sairam has revolutionised Real Money Gaming in India through AI-driven innovations, regulatory frameworks, and data infrastructure. His work spans blockchain-based fairness validation, user integrity systems, and GenAI-powered gaming experiences, driving $30M+ in annual revenue growth.  

Shravan Kumar Koninti, Associate Director – Data Science at Novartis  

Shravan is an AI researcher and innovator who is developing self-service AI tools and large-scale AI projects. He has won multiple hackathons, pioneered Generative AI applications, and contributed to healthcare AI advancements through collaborative research.  

Sumeet Pundlik, Delivery Unit Head at TheMathCompany (MathCo)  

Sumeet is an AI and data science expert with a patented service location optimisation system for a global CPG brand. He also explores Edge analytics, pushing the boundaries of predictive maintenance.  

Swapnil Ashok Jadhav, Senior Director – Machine Learning & Engineering at Angel One  

Swapnil developed Yubi's first open-source repository and India's first Fintech language model, YubiBERT, earning recognition from Meta and media coverage. At Unacademy, he created EdOCR, an OCR tailored for EdTech, and presented it at NVIDIA GTC 2021.

Meet the Winners of Previous Years

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Saad Arshad, AI Technical Lead At Intelligent Relations

Saad is an NLP Engineer and Generative AI tech lead with a Master's in Computer Science from LUMS, specializing in language models for low-resource languages. He excels in NLP tasks—from text generation and semantic similarity to chatbots and speech processing—using tools like Python, PyTorch, and Keras. With a track record leading AI innovations in PR, legal tech, and automotive domains, he's driving impactful, intelligent media solutions developing AI and SaaS platforms such as Preston.

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