India’s tech sector needs 1 mn high-tech engineers as economy expands

India’s technology sector will need more than 1 million engineers with advanced skills in artificial intelligence and other capabilities over the next 2-3 years, an industry body estimates, a demand that won’t be met unless the government significantly beefs up education and training in the country.

The sector will need to reskill more than half of its existing workforce to take up jobs in fields such as AI, big data analytics and cyber-security, said Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at the National Association of Software and Service Companies, based in Bengaluru. New college graduates will only be able to fill a quarter of the advanced tech jobs needed, she said.