Nasscom emphasises on building new tech skills with changing demand

This will ensure the availability of 'job ready' graduates, said the industry body

To bridge the widening skill gap in information technology sector, new courses on data science and analytics, automation and internet of things(Iot) need to be introduced at academic level, said industry body Nasscom in a new report on Thursday. This will ensure the availability of "job ready" graduates.

"The talent requirement is shifting from 'academic qualification' based hiring to 'skill, knowledge and expertise' based hiring," the report said, adding that there is an increasing need of introducing planned skill sets at an academic level to prepare job ready graduates for the industry.

The report also mentioned that with industry hiring models expected to change, the next $100 billion revenues would require 1.2-2 million professionals.

As technology evolves and adoption becomes more pervasive, there is a rising demand for talent from multiple industries. "This has implications for skills required in growing in-demand job roles such as Data Scientists, Automation, Embedded Software Engineers, Digital Transformation, IOT, etc," it said.

"While certain traditional skills like Java, Web Development and Database Management remain high in demand, requirement of new digital skills such as mobile, cloud, analytics (Hadoop) and cyber security is increasing," the report said. "This development has created the requirement to introduce these skill-sets at academic level to prepare industry ready professionals."

At $143 billion, India is the world's largest global sourcing destination, commanding 56 per cent share globally. The country has around 3.7 million people directly employed by the IT ITeS industry.

"With disruptions and shifting customer preferences changing technology and skill sets in demand there is a rise in new job roles and occupations; skill sets are rapidly emerging as must haves for current and prospective tech employees," said Sandhya Chintala, Vice President, Nasscom and Executive Director IT ITeS Sector Skills Council.

The IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council was set up in 2012 by NASSCOM in association with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) as a certifying body for skill training, with the aim to set standard for the domain.