AI and automation adoption to necessitate upskilling for 16.2 million Indian workers by 2027

A research report from software company ServiceNow, in collaboration with research partner Pearson, indicates that the widespread implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation in businesses will demand the reskilling and upskilling of 16.2 million Indian workers by 2027. Simultaneously, the economy is expected to witness the creation of approximately 4.7 million new tech jobs.

“This represents a huge opportunity for India to uplift and reskill people and augment their skills…This report also acts as an input to policy and framing actions by the government and the private sector,” said Kamolika Gupta Peres, Vice President and managing Director, of ServiceNow Indian SubContinent in an interaction with Moneycontrol.

As India’s techade accelerates, businesses are working full steam ahead to capture the economic value and inclusive development that AI will bring, the report published on November 1st said.

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AI and Automation Transforming India’s Workforce

The report also highlighted that to meet the tech deficit there is a need for nearly 75,000 application developers, 70,000 data analysts, 65,000 platform owners, and nearly 55,000 implementation engineers from India.

“Large-scale skill augmentation across diverse functions and sectors is expected to multiply productivity and add a large number of high-value jobs to the economy. Mid-level professionals will witness maximum demand across key role functions,” The report said.

Interestingly, India’s tech hub Bengaluru is seeing the highest demand for tech talent specifically in Gen AI and automation, according to the report.

The biggest industry impact of this talent shift will be seen in the Manufacturing sector with 23% of the workforce primed for automation and skill augmentation, according to the report.

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Reskilling for the Future

Out of the total 16.2 million workforces that need to be upskilled, manufacturing forms the biggest share as within the next five years, the sector will require at least 3.74 million workers for AI and automation roles to be reskilled, while Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing together will need to upskill and train around 3.65 million workers.

The manufacturing sector is anticipated to generate an extra 902,000 full-time positions related to AI and Automation, with the retail industry contributing 677,000 more jobs to the workforce. In addition, the education sector will have a demand for around 197,000 employees.

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