Employability Prospects of Data Science in India.

The past two decades have seen India as one of the most sought-after regions for outsourcing. However, there have been significant developments across various industries with the interests of global enterprises on the rise. These organizations have been setting up development as well as data science divisions in the country in pursuit of new opportunities, smarter methodologies, productive operations and client-centric operations.

A study by NASSCOM suggests that the big data industry in the country will constitute 32% of the global market at a valuation of $16 billion by the end of 2025. The study also came with a proposal for incorporating big data and data analytics in the curriculum of skill development programs & initiatives. This proposal is aimed at preparing the youth for the massive influx of jobs in the field.

As several tech giants and startups have started exploring the prospects of ‘Big Data’ and Data Analytics, data sciences are expected to grow in the near future. This provides significant employment prospects for qualified data scientists.

According to an Economic Times report, 97,000 jobs in data science in India remained vacant because of the lack of a skilled workforce. The most significant contributors to this figure were the BFSI, energy, pharmaceuticals & healthcare and e-commerce industries.

To add to this, estimates suggest that the country is set to add 1.5 lakh new jobs in the field by the end of 2020. These openings largely span across Tier 1 cities such as Bengaluru- 24%, Delhi (NCR)- 22% & Mumbai- 15%.

Some of the major firms contributing to this figure are Accenture, Amazon, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Hexaware Technologies, Dell International & Deloitte.

Great Learning’s upskilling programs like Post graduate program in Data Science & Business Analytics (PGP-DSBA) aims to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of jobs in fields such as Data Science. Its learning collaborations with esteemed schools like Stanford & Purdue grants a platform for Indian professionals to progress at the same rates as their counterparts in developed nations.

With the increase in FDI in recent years, more and more companies are looking to bolster capabilities in the domain. This has resulted in thousands of vacancies. But the lack of talent continues to be a roadblock in this pursuit.

The good thing is that most of these openings do not have high experience requirements (less than five years). They are thus enabling freshers to pursue them and career-changers from traditional domains.