Talent pool in data storage, management set to double in coming years: survey

India is poised to become a global hub in emerging technologies like AI and cloud. According to a new survey, for deep tech areas like storage and data management technologies, MNCs are leveraging the talent in the country to build successful global products and solutions at scale.

"Today, the employed talent across the world in this sector is estimated to be more than 6 million with the Asia-Pacific accounting for nearly half the talent. Of the total talent pool of 2.7 million in the APAC region, India accounts for more than 1/4th of this talent, according to the survey 'Flash Forward: The India Opportunity'.

The total headcount of 7,06,000 of the selected job families in India (system software and Kernel, cloud platform service, UI development and UX design, DevOps and automation, and big data and data analytics) accounts for 14% of the total technology talent in the country.

Bengaluru accounts for a majority of the talent, followed by Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR, as per the survey.

"The time is ripe for organisations in this space to explore setting up businesses in India, as the talent pool in the advanced categories is set to double leading to a greater availability of a skilled workforce," Ajeya Motaganahalli, MD - India R&D, Pure Storage, told ET.

For system software and Kernel skills in India, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR account for more than 40% of the expert/architect talent pool.

"This highlights the importance of these cities with regards to the senior talent available for global organisations looking to start India operations with the right leadership team," said Motaganahalli.

Bengaluru also leads with talent working in cloud platform service as well as UI development and UX design.

"However, we see a more secular split across the lower levels of talent across smaller cities. A little more than 1/4th of the overall UI/UX talent is located outside of the six major cities, mainly in Ahmedabad, Cochin, and Kolkata. Hence, there is an opportunity to tap into this domain’s talent pool which exists in the emerging cities," said Motaganahalli.

Organisations are looking to augment and upskill fresh talent to become more employable, and are targeting areas like AI/ML, big data analytics, user experience, design, and development.

Government initiatives like Make in India and Digital India are also encouraging such technology companies to bolster their India-centric story, with the right talent workforce. Companies are tapping government initiatives, partnerships and collaborations, online skilling and certifications, as well as in-house skilling to develop talent in this area.