The highly commoditised IT sector provides jobs which can be called the new-age blue collar profession. But innovation is where the high-end talent thrives, T.N Hari, head of human resource development, BigBasket, told close to a 100 engineering students at IIIT-Hyderabad on Saturday.
Mr. Hari was addressing a young gathering giving insights into the industry requirements. His talk was part of a lecture series titled #WhatIndustryWants. The series is being jointly organised by TalentSprint and The Hindu .
Like factory workers who were recruited in huge numbers during the industrial revolution, the IT sector has accommodated many employees after India’s economy liberalised, Mr. Hari elaborated.
He asked the youth to be “curious” so that they would remain on top of the game in a rapidly-changing employment atmosphere. The country that moved from services to manufacturing sector in the last two decades was now concentrating on start-ups where leadership, ideation and execution were valued.
Innovation requires high calibre workforce, the HR head informed. The sector also gets better funding than that attracted by the services.
Global opportunities
India, where population was very young, would have to provide 25% of the world’s workforce in the coming decade. The country should learn to reap the benefit of this young population. “Between 2017 and 2047, 300 million youth will join the Indian workforce. To employ them, the country should be able to provide 10 million jobs a year. Globally there are opportunities which can help the placement of Indian youth. We should be able to generate the right kind of aptitude to reap this,” Mr. Hari said.
While the global workforce is ageing, India would be able to provide additional labour. “Here, curiosity matters a lot. Each student should be able to develop skills that the industry needs and being curious about new innovations would make them valuable to the employers,” Mr. Hari told students.
Later, talking to The Hindu , Mr. Hari said BigBasket has become a good competitor in the global market. “In the next few years, the company, which is currently in fifth position among grocery companies, will rise to the third position. It has already expanded to 25 cities,” he said.
