India’s non-tech sectors to hire over 1 mn IT pros in next 4-5 years

India’s non-tech sectors will hire over 1 million (11.15 lakh) technology talent by FY2027-28, growing at a CAGR of 7.53%, according to a new report published on Thursday by staffing firm Teamlease titled Services Employment Outlook Report for the April to June quarter.

While the IT sector is experiencing slowdowns and massive layoffs, tech talent is still in demand, and non-tech sectors including banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), consulting, media, retail and consumer business, life sciences and healthcare, engineering research and development and energy and resources, are stepping in to fill the void, Munira Loliwala, BU Head — Specialised Staffing at TeamLease Digital noted. Currently, the non-tech sector employs over 0.7 million (7.65 lakh) tech professionals, the report said.

Across sectors, expertise in cloud based services, robotic automation transformation and artificial intelligence will be in demand, the report said. For example, in the Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, data engineer, business analyst and solutions architect are the most in demand. In communication and media, employers are looking out for UI/UX designer, fullstack developer, game developer. In retail and consumer business, mostly graphic designer, data scientist and fullstack developer are in vogue.

Of the other sectors, Teamlease found that life Sciences and Healthcare sector will hire more data scientist, java developer and QA engineer. The engineering research & development (ER&D) firms will look for engineers in the Embedded Software, CAD and automation space and energy and resources sector will recruit more of IT infrastructure engineers and software developers, the report stated.

At the entry level, employers seek proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, basic knowledge of programming languages (HTML and CSS), and experience with content management systems. Intermediate experience levels demand skills and experience with advanced programming languages (Python and Java), data analysis, visualisation tools, cloud computing platforms. And for senior level, there will be demand for artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain cybersecurity skillsets, according to the study.

“The non-tech industry has been actively hiring seasoned tech talent in an effort to maintain its competitiveness in terms of productivity and efficiency. The number of tech jobs available and salaries in non-tech businesses have increased tremendously in recent months. This has played a major role in the movement of tech personnel from specialised tech industries into non-tech areas, said Loliwala, adding that the unexpected surge in demand for technical expertise, however, has resulted in a huge gap between supply and demand, which in turn has sharply increased the number of positions in a variety of non-tech industries.

According to Teamlease, currently in the non tech sector, majority of hiring is still not on permanent payrolls. Although 54% employers do engage in deploying permanent workforce, a substantial 30% engage in mixed contracts and another 16% in contractual hiring, it said.

From a location and salary perspective, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurgaon remain the sweet spots. 27% of all popular tech roles are being paid highest in Bengaluru followed by Hyderabad at 16% and Delhi and Pune at 13%.

Notably, close to 1.8 million are women in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) leading tech roles out of 5 million. Globally, India ranks second with 4 million female online learners enrolled in STEM courses such as computer programming, web development, analytics, AI and ML, cybersecurity and user experience. 
 
As per the Naukri.com report published on April 5, job vacancies in the BFSI sector reached an all-time high of 4,555 in March 2023 compared with 3,138 in March 2022, and a significant number is for various IT roles. The banking sector displayed a 45% year-on-year growth fuelled by the expansion of digital banking services in the rapidly evolving global economy. 

The report noted that this surge in job creation by BFSI and other non-tech sectors is significantly contributing to the upward hiring trend in the overall job market of India. Job creation in non-tech sectors such as oil, real estate, FMCG, and hospitality increased by 36%, 31%, 14%, and 7%, respectively, compared to last year's base. The IT sector, on the other hand, witnessed a decline of 17% in new jobs created compared to the same period last year, it said.

Earlier in March experts at IT staffing firm Xpheno also said that with IT sector is set on a slow recovery curve, the non-tech sectors will remain a prominent driver of active talent demand in 2023. A total of over 166,000 active white collar talent demand is currently present across 12 key non-technology sectors, they said, adding that BFSI, consulting and professional services, education, media and advertising, and healthcare will continue to be the top five non-technology sectors that dominated in terms of over job contribution this year.   

Loliwala further added that creation of Global Shared Services and Captives that will boost hiring and develop potential tech talent in FY24.