India’s digital skilled workforce needs to grow nine-fold by 2025: AWS survey

In order to meet the projected demand of digitally skilled employees, India will need a total of 3.9 billion digital skill sessions, over the next five years.

India’s digital skilled workforce needs to grow nine-fold by 2025. | Picture by special arrangement.

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Digital skills are becoming an essential component for employees to perform their jobs proficiently. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this digitisation journey to a certain extent for organisations as well as individuals.

India’s present workforce comprises only 12% digitally skilled employees, and the number of employees requiring digital skills in the country will need to increase nine-fold by 2025, according to a report commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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The research surveyed over 500 digital workers in India, and 3,196 workers in total across six countries in the APAC region, including Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

Nearly 150 million workers in six APAC countries apply digital skills on the job, and those in need of such skills is poised to surge past 800 million by 2025, according to the report titled

‘Unlocking APAC’s Digital Potential: Changing Digital Skill Needs and Policy Approaches’.

About 70% of workers in India applied advanced digital skills in their jobs, it noted. And the top five digital skills in-demand in India are cloud architecture design (34%); software operations support (31%); website, game, or software development (28%); large-scale data modelling (28%); and cybersecurity skills (27%). Transitioning organisations from on-premises to cloud environments has been the most frequently used digital skill in India. This is reflected in the crucial role digitally-skilled employees play in transforming non-technology sectors like manufacturing.

Moreover, 76% of the digital workers in the country presently expect cloud computing to be an essential skill. Over 50% of digital workers in the manufacturing sector think they will require skills like cloud architecture design and the ability to create original digital content, to perform their jobs.

“A cloud-skilled workforce is instrumental in accelerating innovation and creating a competitive edge for India,” Rahul Sharma, President, AWS India and South Asia, said in a release.

In order to meet the projected demand of digitally skilled employees, the six APAC countries will need an estimated 5.7 billion digital skill sessions, and India will need a total of 3.9 billion digital skill sessions, over the next five years, as per the report.

“To meet the projected digital skill needs by 2025, each of the six APAC countries will require different policy approaches that address their unique challenges and skills priorities,” the report said.