India Has the Lowest Tech Talent Demand Supply Gap: NASSCOM Tech Industry in India currently employs over 5.4 million people, with digital accounting for 36 per cent to 38 per cent of the industry's workforce
By Shrabona Ghosh •
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In 2023, the Indian government allocated a substantial budget of INR 3,517.31 crore to enhance workforce competitiveness across industries. India currently stands as the world's primary sourcing hub with one of the most extensive pools of technically skilled graduates globally. The demand for IT professionals has seen consistent growth, notably in digital skills such as AI, Data Science, Cloud Computing, Information Security and Blockchain.
"Tech Industry in India currently employs over 5.4 million people, with digital accounting for 36 per cent to 38 per cent of the industry's workforce. AI & Big Data Analytics and IoT are the top technology skills with the highest demand supply gap of over 50 per cent. The job landscape is continuously evolving with Quantum Computing, Blockchain, and AR/VR," said a report by NASSCOM, titled India Tech Industry Digital Talent Demand and Supply Analysis 2023
In 2022-23, India had one of the world's largest annual supplies of STEM graduates, at 2.5 million, also achieving a globally leading female diversity ratio of 43-48 per cent.
Indian tech industry represents (core and digital) more than 80 per cent of the industry's workforce. Majority of the growth in the tech talent base is driven by the digital tech talent, which in turn is rising from the escalating demand for digital skills and technologies from rapid digital transformation of businesses. Core tech talent has remained relatively stable over the past three years, maintaining a workforce ranging between 2.5 – 2.6 million professionals. This stability is attributed to the maturity of core tech roles, which have reached workforce saturation, the report added.
Among the countries with the large tech talent pools, India and China boast the lowest demand-supply gap. This favorable situation can be attributed to their strong reskillability with huge talent reserve, showcasing their ability to enhance digital tech talent by upskilling their existing workforce driven by robust education systems, and the proactive efforts of respective governments to cultivate a skilled workforce capable of meeting the growing demands of the tech industry.
India has the lowest tech talent demand supply gap at 25 per cent -27 per cent among global tech leaders such as the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia. However, the digital talent gap for the tech industry is expected to widen from the current 25 per cent to 28-29 per cent in 2028, an increase of 2.8 times with the demand for digital talent anticipated to cross 6 million.
