Introduction

The report, published in February 2023, is the result of joint collaboration between NASSCOM, Salesforce and Draup, a talent-intelligence platform.

It is evident that the need for artificial intelligence and the corresponding expertise is rapidly increasing, and countries worldwide are competing to implement this technology due to its potential game-changing benefits. India, in particular, has a strong inclination towards technology and has consistently produced skilled talent in the tech industry.

Over the past years, there has been a significant increase in the requirement for professionals with expertise in artificial intelligence, Big Data Analytics, and Data Science resulting in a doubling of demand. The sudden increase in demand for skilled talent can be explained by a variety of favourable factors, such as a young and trainable population that can be upskilled, an escalating requirement for professionals with digital skills, an end-user organizational culture that is becoming progressively data-driven, and supportive government initiatives, especially those concerning skill development. India is anticipated to experience substantial growth in the demand for AI and Data Science professionals.

For this report, Draup analyzed data on AI/ML BDA (Big Data Analytics) tech talent in India with a special focus on different job roles, locations, and technologies. Based on the analysis, it has been estimated that there is a 51% gap between the demand and supply of AI/ML BDA tech talent in India, taking into account the current talent base of approximately 420,000 professionals. However, there is a significant demand-supply gap for certain job roles, ranging from approximately 60% to 73%. These roles include ML Engineer, Data Scientist, DevOps Engineer, and Data Architect. The report also points out a few interesting observations such as a) 33% of India’s data science & AI (DS&AI) developer talent is between 18 and 21 years of age with tier 2 & 3 cities such as Ahmedabad, Kochi, Indore, Coimbatore and Jaipur emerging as talent hubs, b) the demand for DS&AI talent is expected to be ~629K, c) the duration required to transition to DS&AI roles can vary from 3 to 7.5 months and 5.5 to 10.5 months, respectively, depending on the individual's initial role, d) India’s Data Annotation & Labelling services market is expected to be worth $7 billion by 2030 and engage a potential workforce of 1 million. Another interesting fact pointed out is that women make up ~28% in India’s AI workforce with a majority of them having 0-5 years of experience.

Nevertheless, there are still obstacles to overcome, such as the existence of legacy systems and siloed data that are not easily accessible for sharing.

Relevance of the Report

The report delves into an aspect that has not been widely covered by previous reports regarding the skill gap in DS&AI positions. The intriguing figures were obtained by implementing a comprehensive methodology that involved talent segmentation across various job roles, followed by thorough data analysis. The outcomes were presented in an easily understandable format that is simple to read.

Key Takeaways

• The AI market in India is expected to reach $7.8 billion in value by 2025
• Tech professionals in India are three times more likely to include DS&AI skills in their resumes, indicating a greater level of adoption compared to the US
• India’s AI Skills Penetration Factor leads all (OECD and G20) countries across five major industries
• Several factors contribute to the continuous high demand for talent in India, including market forces, the exponential growth of data, the necessity for enhanced decision-making, compensation, and swift expansion
• There is a 51% gap between the demand and supply of AI/ML BDA tech talent in India
• A significant proportion of the future demand for talent will be fulfilled by upskilling the existing tech workforce. Four skills will perpetually be in demand: design thinking, problem solving skills, tech skills and communication skills