The world’s largest online learning platform Coursera has said that India has surged ahead of China in business and technology skills due to its growing younger population and that India could soon be the global talent hub for emerging technologies.
In its latest Global Skills Index 2020, Coursera said India ranks 34th within the business domain whereas China ranks 45th. Within the technology domain, India ranks 40th globally whereas China ranks 50th.
Looking across the 65 million learners on the platform and drawing on performance data of learners in the past 12 months, the report benchmarks skills proficiency for 60 countries, 10 industries and 11 fields of study in business, technology and data science.
“Within the data science domain, however, India ranks 51th globally (lagging) and 12th among Asia Pacific countries. Within the data management competency, India ranks 58th globally and 15th among Asia Pacific countries in data management skills at 3 per cent skills proficiency (lagging),” the report said.
Quoting a study by Korn Ferry, Coursera further said that India will have a talent surplus by 2030, driven by a growing younger working population compared to the ageing population in China.
“India’s emphasis on affordable and accessible education, especially at the college level, will produce a vast number of level A talent,” it said.
By 2030, the talent surplus will be most visible in industries like financial services, technology, media, telecommunications (with a surplus of 1.3 million professionals) and manufacturing (with a surplus of 2.44 million professionals).
The Indian government has already introduced various programmes under its Skill India initiative to nurture highly skilled and employable Indian youth.
“With the Indian workforce expected to increase 27 per cent to 600 million by 2022, the opportunity for India to become the global talent hub for emerging technologies cannot be understated,” said Coursera’s Global Skills Index 2020 report.