Deep tech skills growth 3 times that of core IT skills: SSC NASSCOM

Examples of deep technology include quantum computing, photonics & electronics, robotics & drones, and blockchain.

The growth of deep tech skills has been three times greater than that of core IT skills, Kirti Seth, CEO of the Sector Skills Council (SSC) NASSCOM, told Moneycontrol in an interview.

Five years ago, the absolute numbers were smaller and there was a gap between supply and demand, she said. Now, while the absolute numbers are larger, there is still a supply shortfall because deep tech is embedded everywhere, she said.

Examples of deep technology include quantum computing, photonics & electronics, robotics & drones, and blockchain.

The SSC, as part of NASSCOM, is tasked with reskilling and upskilling India’s workforce to ensure talent is future-ready in terms of new-age skills and jobs. Seth said investment in training programmes, labs, projects and any form of experience to build skill sets is done across the board and not limited to tech. Edited excerpts: 

Deep tech has changed the world and with India as the major player in tech talent, it stands to reason that there has been a massive change in the talent market in India. Five years ago, multiple reports were calling out how there will be a massive need for reskilling because these technologies will disrupt the way we work, play and live. We’ve seen all that come to pass. The good news is that instead of seeing a slew of job losses, we’ve seen demand skyrocket.

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The rate of growth of skills for deep tech has been 3X that of the core IT skills. Five years ago, the absolute numbers were smaller and there was a gap between supply and demand, and today, the absolute numbers are larger, but there is still a gap between supply and demand. This is because deep tech is now embedded everywhere.

Most tech jobs are now in mainstream industries like healthcare, banking and retail, which increasingly need tech skills. The first port of call will be the tech industry for the talent they need. But it is not as simple as just hiring for tech skills.

For each sector, an understanding of the domain is crucial to be able to build for that industry. It is easier to train in deep tech skills than to train in domain knowledge. Years of experience cannot be replaced by a few short-term training programmes. However, those with a depth of experience stand to be big gainers if they take steps to equip themselves with the technologies of the future.

The non-tech industries are not sitting idly. They are proactively investing in learning libraries and building digital transformation roadmaps. This is a C-suite imperative. To illustrate how things are turning on their head – imagine that a phone company and a computer company want to think about building an electric car. After all, 70 percent of a car is electronics and software. Once you remove the internal combustion engine, you have a giant connected computer on wheels. Now think about what this means for the type of talent that will be in demand for this car company.

A study we did early in 2022 showed that the IT industry trained 1.6 million people in digital skills the previous year. It is this reskilling at such a massive scale that enabled the industry to experience the scorching pace of growth last year. Investment in training programmes, labs, projects and any form of experience to build the skill sets was done across the board. This was not limited to the tech industry.

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Our interactions with CIOs from other industries tell us that they have not been resting easily. They are the user industry and require cutting-edge tech skills to develop products and services. We have been very encouraged to see the response of some large public sector undertakings to the FutureSkills Prime (FSP) programme, which is a digital skilling platform funded by the Ministry of IT and managed by NASSCOM.

Mining, cement, textiles, aviation, chemicals – there is a wide range of industries that are signing up to skill their workforce. And these are just the ones that are on the platform we know. There are scores of others who have found their path. It’s clear to India Inc. that what will help them retain their edge is its talent.

However, while much of this applies to the larger companies of India Inc., we have to ensure that this message reaches the vast number of small and medium enterprises that are the backbone of India.

There is no excuse now for deep tech talent not being prepared or industry-ready. Earlier, the student community had to choose between spending their time finishing the course curriculum to earn their degree or taking up an industry skilling certification. In India, we are now entering a very exciting phase where there is a huge effort through NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 to make skills more aspirational and integrate vocational and academic credentials.

Programmes on FSP are aligned to the National Skills Qualification Framework and the National Credit Framework, which means that if you get certified in these courses, you can bank the credits that you earn as contributing to your degree, which means skills become more aspirational and more and more people will pick up these courses which are available in all cutting-edge technologies.

There are many colleges now where the traditional engineering streams have been completely ignored and everyone is doing computer science engineering with a specialisation in AI (artificial intelligence) or data analytics. This is a little extreme and I hope the pendulum swings back to a more rational level. For India to be able to build technology, we need world-class engineers in the core subjects.

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It is heartening to see the effort being made by several higher education institutions to keep up with the changing times. They are quick to leverage whatever resources are available and build on them to provide a more relevant curriculum for their students. Collaboration with industry is another way that they are jumpstarting their entry into newer areas of learning.

Some state governments are also very proactive. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are already well on their way to integrating new-age technologies into their state universities. This year, we are definitely going to see 4-5 more states taking specific steps to modernise their syllabi.