The pandemic has turned our world topsy-turvy in form of irrecoverable loss of lives, shrunk economies and a further skewed wealth distribution. That said, one of the most profound positive impacts it has had was the swift adoption of digital way of life – be it workplace interaction, commerce, education, healthcare delivery or governance. This has created far reaching implications for individuals, families, societies, and economies worldwide.

Few of these shifts have created deep & long-term opportunities for all of us here in India who are employed in the IT sector or future talent or connected to Tech sector. This global digital revolution has opened massive opportunities for the IT/Tech talent across the following 5 broad areas:

Indian IT sector: According to NASSCOM, this sector will grow to $300-350 billion by 2025-26 from its current size of $190 billion. Realistically has potential to double in the next 5-6 years.

6-7% growth before pandemic is highly likely to be replaced by roaring 15-20% yearly growth rate over the next few years as the entire world tries to hug ‘digital way of life’. The existing base of roughly 4.5 million employed professionals will continue to expand over the next few years. It will hardly be a surprise when TCS announces hiring of 100,000 freshers in FY-2022.

This surge in hiring is across IT services, GICs, product companies & R&D centres, partly fuelled by the great resignation wave in western countries.

Indian B2B, B2C & G2C space: Pandemic brought quantum shift in almost everything going digital at an unprecedented speed. Consumers and businesses alike shifted to “digital experience” in everything. The old steady digital transformation got replaced with ‘supersonic digital transformation’ thus creating unprecedented demand for IT/Tech talent. The already strained talent supply got further exacerbated thus creating ever more opportunities for tech talent.

It is estimated that roughly 10-11% of India’s GDP is consumed digitally, and it is only set to grow exponentially in future. There would be more Flipkart’s, Zomato’s, PayTM’s, OYO’s, Byju’s and so on, altering the face of consumer commerce forever; similarly, there would be many more Zoho’s in the SaaS space, claiming the glory in enterprise software. G2C ie Govt to Citizen has already started delivering multiple services and Govt would very well become an important incubator of IT talent.

Newer technologies: AR/VR, Crypto, Blockchain, Drone tech, Automated cars, Artificial intelligence, Cybersecurity and now Metaverse are the most defining aspect of human existence in years to come. They will need sophisticated, top talent in large numbers to fuel innovation & growth. It will create tremendous opportunities for daughters & sons of India to lead the way for the world.

Globalisation is waning but globalisation of India Tech talent has just begun: Global supply chains are getting localised or “near-shored” in response to protectionism, disruptions caused by local restrictions and because of a broader objective of de-risking from China / Asia. On the other hand, ‘Work from anywhere’ has liberated Tech talent from living in a particular country or even visiting office daily.

Today, one can work from anywhere for any employer in any country across time zones. This has created alternate global opportunities for the Indian IT/Tech talent. You can very well work for global IT MNCs from Gurgaon or Bangalore or just anywhere. This globalisation of workforce has just begun and Indian stands to benefit from it much more than any other country. Robust cybersecurity, data integrity & cyber regulations would be critical for smoother work from anywhere norm to succeed.

Semiconductor, Renewable & EV: We are yet in the early stages of sustenance led initiatives that will employ cutting edge technology, be it renewables, smart-grids, or mass adoption of EV and driverless mobility or even the surveillance and defence systems that employ ever higher technology. There is a major push in India to have our own semiconductor eco-system which will need ever more talent for it to be successful.

We believe, the above 5 themes present tremendous opportunities for Indian talent & our IT/Tech human capital in this decade and beyond.

This is our genuine chance to play a significant role in the all-encompassing “global digital transformation” thus, becoming a digital powerhouse of the world.