Nearly 37% of jobs in India will demand varied skill sets by 2022: Report

The Ficci report highlights the impact that various primary forces such as globalisation, demographics, and Industry technologies, are expected to have on the key sectors of the economy

Ficci and Nasscom jointly commissioned a report titled, Future of Skills and Jobs in India that states that 9 per cent of the workforce in India would be deployed in new jobs that do not even exist today. The report that was unveiled on Monday in Ficci's 'Global Skills Summit' event, provided a comprehensive research on the future of jobs and key drivers of job-hopping nature of the future generations. 

According to the report,  nearly 37 per cent of Indian workforce would be in jobs demanding radically different skill sets by 2022. 

The report highlights the impact that various primary forces such as globalisation, demographics, and Industry technologies, are expected to have on the key sectors of the economy. It stated that the internet and exponential technologies are creating new employment opportunities in the areas of ‘white-collar’ working also known as gig economy (includes online labour - software developers, creative and multimedia professionals, online sales and marketing professionals, writers, translators and data entry operators) and India is the leading country, with a 24 per cent share of the online labour market. Other areas of job opportunities include technology aggregator models, e-commerce segment and tech start-ups with new business models.

Mohandas Pai, chairman, Ficci Skill Development Committee & Chairman Manipal Global Education, reportedly said that there was an urgent need to collate and analyse data to understand in which sectors jobs were being created, what were the skills that were needed by industries and employers, and how productivity could be enhanced with re-skilling of the workforce.

Breaking down the research into particular job sectors that needed enhanced workforce, Ficci reported that in the organised IT/BPM sector, 60-65 per cent of the workforce would be deployed in jobs that have radically changed skill sets (projected for 2020) and some examples of the future job roles in the IT/BPM sector includes VFX artist, computer vision engineer, wireless network specialist, data architect, and artificial intelligence research scientist to name a few. 

Similarly, in the automotive sector, 50-55% of the workforce would be deployed in jobs that have radically changed skill sets (projected for 2020) and the evolving job roles include automobile analytics engineer, 3D printing technician, vehicle cybersecurity expert. Such new jobs roles are also expected in the Textile & Apparel, BFSI and Retail sector.

R Chandrashekhar, NASSCOM, said, "The report attempts to present a 2022 picture – a time when no one can afford to “rest on one’s laurels” but needs a continuous learning culture. Another important fact being seen is that non-tech firms are increasingly emerging as the source of information technology roles; for eg. automotive, aerospace, BFSI, telecom, retail, healthcare, etc.”