Demand for data scientists growing in government sector: Expert

The demand for data scientists in India is growing in government agencies at par with private establishments due to a shortage of skilled manpower in the industry, an expert has said.

Data scientists, who analyse 'big data' or high-volume, high-velocity data are required not only in industry sectors but are increasingly being drawn from the agriculture and clinical research areas as well.

Industry experts at the recently held "Big Data and Analytics Summit 2014" said India will be short of two lakh data scientists over the next few years.

In India, the "demand for data scientists in government agencies is on par with the demands in the private sector," according to Noshin Kagalwalla, country manager for SAS India, a subsidiary of SAS Inc., US, a global leader in business analytics software and business intelligence.

"There is a gap of skilled manpower in the industry. To address such gaps almost all large organisations are using such analysts.

"Such analysts are being used in a big way in government (for example, the National Population Register) and public sector as well as the data volume is huge," Kagalwalla told reporters here via teleconference.

SAS or Statistical Analysis System is a business analytics and business intelligence software.

The department of economics and statistics as well as the Maharashtra government has been using such software and data scientists, he said.

To bridge the gap, SAS has tied up with one of eastern India's leading business schools, the Calcutta Business School (CBS), to impart a certificate programme in business analytics for post graduate diploma (PGDM) students that would lead to a globally recognised certification.

"The course will be spread over two years and will cost Rs.50,000. The fundamentals will be taught by our own faculty and the technical aspects and SAS tools will be taught by their experts. We hope this will align the industry's demands with academia," said CBS director Goutam Sengupta.

Experts could be from India, Europe or the US. This is the only such SAS programme in the eastern region.