Future is in digital tech, says NIIT CEO

NIIT is in the process of creating a huge supply of freshers with required digital skills within a short period, considering the need for more such hands by the industry, a top official said today.
Since the university system was not geared to do so in the short term, NIIT is helping the industry to re-skill the existing professionals and create a huge pool of high-end, new digital skilled and full stack product engineering IP creators, NIIT Ltd CEO Rahul Patwardhan told reporters here
"They can power the emerging start-up sector, create new jobs which old-fashioned manufacturing employment models like "Make in India" simply cannot. We have been working with companies, institutions and the public for the last 18 months," Patwardhan said.

Stating that the issue today was not skilling but creating jobs, he job-seekers should realise that the opportunity was around digital technology and artificial intelligence.
On the future employment scenario, Patwardhan said that there was growing unrest in the society as people get more worried and demand action on job creation and social security from the government, which is investing huge sums in skill training.
Of the expected population of 1.7 billion by 2050, 61.6 per cent was expected to be in the job market (between 15 and 59 years of age), he said.
"Already an estimated 50 per cent are unemployed and another 667 million are to enter the job market in the next 25 years. The new entrants could face a similar or worse fate. Our demographic potential, which was hitherto looked upon as an asset could be an albatross," Patwardhan said.

Stating that he had visited some 100 colleges in the country and spoken to heads of educational institutions and offered strategic intervention to address the issue of placement.