India is quickly becoming one of the top markets in the world for AI talent. The latest data from the global hiring platform Indeed shows that in India, 11.7% of the job postings in September were specifically talking about AI, which is a significant increase from 10.6% just three months prior and 8.2% a year ago. Such a phenomenal rise points the way to India practicing what it preaches in terms of the AI economy.
As a result of integrating intelligent technologies into their operations, companies from various sectors are pushing AI to be the core of their business. India is only behind Singapore worldwide in terms of the number of AI-related job openings, which is another proof of India’s importance as a digital innovation and technical expertise hub.
The major demand for AI must-have skills is in the tech industry, but now it is slowly trickling into other non-tech fields. A majority (nearly 39%) of the data and analytics positions implicitly acknowledge the use of AI, which is the highest proportion among all industries, with software development as a runner-up making up 23%. It is interesting to note that the non-tech sectors have not only acknowledged the AI hype but they are also forcibly quick in adaptation—where insurance (18%) and scientific research (17%) have had significant AI-related developments in recent years.
Even engineering fields at the core are allowing this change in: industrial engineering is leading with 17% of jobs referring to AI, followed by mechanical (11%) and electrical engineering (9.2%) departments behind it. This cross-sectoral demand for AI skills demonstrates that AI expertise is no longer a niche one but rather an expectation in modern job markets.
On the other hand, India’s broader employment scenario is somewhat reassuring. The overall hiring momentum weakened in September as the number of total job postings on Indeed decreased by 0.8%—the sixth consecutive month for which there has been a decline—and stood 16.2% lower than a year ago. Nevertheless, job postings still remain 69% above the pre-pandemic levels, which indicates that the labor market in India is not only recovering but also becoming more formalized.
The gradual transition to more formal work arrangements is the main reason why the increase in job opportunities in the organized sectors is still ahead of the overall growth of employment, even though the economy is going through a cooling phase. The aforementioned structural change has helped India to keep a relatively strong hiring ground compared to most other countries, which are experiencing post-pandemic slowdowns.
However, the benefits are not equally distributed among sectors. In the last quarter, job postings have fallen in more than 90% of the occupations. Growth in jobs has only been recorded in a handful of sectors—such as community and social service (up 10.4%), pharmacy (up 9.9%), and software development (up 0.4%).
The limited progress in these areas has been dwarfed by the heavy job losses in the banking and finance sector (-25.5%), education (-22.2%), and healthcare (e.g., physicians and surgeons, -20.9%) resulting from a similar magnitude. The contrast between the two sets of industries shows that technology and innovation-related industries are still growing while the others are downsizing.
Though there has been a considerable increase in AI-related hiring, India is still dealing with a challenging issue—skill mismatch. The supply of skilled workers in AI, data analytics, and automation is far behind the demand for such professionals. This disparity in skills endangers the company’s ability to adopt technology at a needed pace and, at the same time, it forbids India to unleash the full power of digital transformation.
To sum up, the labor market in India is at a very important point where less hiring is taking place in general, however, AI-driven openings are increasing rapidly. The energizing aspect of AI points to a promising future which is still very much dependent on the quick resolution of the skills shortage problem. The country needs to place a big bet on education, upskilling, and digital literacy in order to keep its AI leadership position at the global level. Only then can AI become the driver of inclusive and sustainable growth for one of the world’s most vibrant labor forces.
Source – https://thepamphlet.in/how-indias-ai-job-boom-is-shaping-a-new-employment-landscape/