Artificial Intelligence related jobs on the rise in India, says study

Research by the National Institute of Skill Development indicates that only 2% of the country's total workforce has undergone skills training presently

According to data from leading job site Indeed, over the past two years, the number of seekers looking for artificial intelligence (AI) related jobs in India has increased by 179 per cent but most do not possess the right skills. Patterns suggest that since the start of 2018, employer demand for AI skills has been consistently twice the supply of job seekers. While in April 2017, for every 1.2 jobs, one candidate was found to possess the skill, the corresponding number for June 2018 was 2.2. The time period for the study was between June 2016 and June 2018 and experts believe that the gap is an indicator of the need for skill development in the larger STEM sector and the technology sector in particular. Research by the National Institute of Skill Development indicates that only two percent of the country's total workforce has undergone skills training presently.

Digital transformation

The ICT Hype Cycle identifies 28 key technologies and capabilities for digital transformation that are important for local Indian IT leaders. The emphasis is on three stages of digital business delivery — designing, delivering and scaling — which reflect the focus of 75 per cent of chief information officers (CIOs) in India. “Scaling business is the primary objective of Indian CIOs,” says Pankaj Prasad, principal research analyst at Gartner. Doing it right requires continued investment in proven technologies and balanced investment in emerging technologies that sustain growth.” Organisations in India, across various industries, are still evaluating machine learning and experimenting with it. There is a lack of understanding of the technology and therefore user adoption is currently limited.