MITB Banner

Study: Analytics and Data Science Jobs in India: 2020

Share

The annual analytics job report, presented by Great Learning and Analytics India Magazine (AIM), provides a comprehensive study of the data science job landscape covering profiles and roles that require analytics competencies and skills. The research provides a comprehensive view of the talent market, which has been affected by the recessionary environment and the unfortunate pandemic. The report also provides insights into how employees need to develop a blend of data and analytic skills to succeed in data science roles. This year the effects of the pandemic and the recessionary environment have been researched on the open job figures.

This report outlines the functional analytics skills and programming languages that are most in-demand in the market. The report provides insights for recruiters and hiring companies so that they can study the demand for skills across the analytics function, and can identify and close any capability gaps across workforces. By highlighting the talent hotspots in the country, the report enables organisations to build a steady talent pipeline.

Benefits and Key Takeaways

We hope the report is a handy point of reference for aspiring professionals, industry experts and think-tanks. As a result of the unfortunate pandemic, the Analytics space in 2020 has witnessed changes and churns in terms of job losses and slowdown in job creation. Nonetheless, the enthusiasm and optimism around the analytics function in India continue to remain high, and we are eagerly waiting to see what the future holds for Data Science and jobs within this domain.

Introduction

This Job Study is a holistic analysis of the Indian Analytics and Data Science jobs and skills landscape. This study/report covers the top job trends in the Analytics space, specifically open jobs at a given point in time, and provides a detailed break-up and analysis of jobs by certain criteria, such as cities, industries, experience levels, technologies/tools, and salary hierarchies. The report provides details and analysis of the types of companies that are recruiting key talent in the Data Science domain.  The report identifies reasons for significant shifts or changes in hiring trends across the criteria defined above. 

Read last year’s study here.


(Source for the job figures and trends below: Leading career portals, including Naukri.com, LinkedIn jobs section, and Monsterindia.com)

  • Although it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of open Analytics job openings for a given month, approximately 93,500 open jobs are available at the end of August 2020 according to the analysis carried out by AIMResearch.
    • These open jobs are available jobs to be filled in the Data Analytics function at any given point in time and are not the absolute number of new jobs created each month.
  • The Analytics jobs figure for August 2020 is a 1.6% drop in open jobs requirement compared to the same period last year (August 2019).
    • Last year, while there were changes in the number of open job positions early in the year, the average number of open positions for the full year was about 90,500.
  • COVID-19 Effect on Open Jobs: There was a drop or contraction in open jobs year-on-year in the months of June and July 2020 – 11% and 17% respectively. This contraction is due to the recessionary environment, which is caused by the unfortunate pandemic. Moreover, from a peak of 109,000 in February 2020, the open jobs figure fell to a low of 82,500 in May 2020. The effect of the recession and the pandemic on the open jobs figures is detailed in relevant sections of the report.
    • To study the relative effects of the recessionary environment on the proportion of open jobs, AIMResearch has carried out a comparative study of the open jobs percentages for August 2020 (after lockdown) with January 2020 (before lockdown), apart from the usual annual comparisons.

In August 2020, India contributed to 9.8% of the total global Analytics job openings. This is a significant jump from the figure of 7.2% of total global job openings in January of this year. During the same period last year (August 2019), India contributed approximately 7% of worldwide open job requirements.

  • The 10 leading organisations with the most number of analytics jobs advertised in August are dominated by the MNC and Domestic IT & KPO organisations – Accenture, Mphasis, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Capgemini, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, IBM India, Dell, HCL Technologies and Collabera Technologies.
  • Almost 98% (97.8%) of Analytics jobs advertised in India are full-time, signifying the strengthening of the Indian Analytics hiring market. Just 2% of the jobs form part-time, internship or contractual jobs – similar to the trend of January 2020 and the overall trend of 2019, when an approximate 97.5% full-time and 2.5% part-time jobs were advertised.

The top designations advertised are Analytics Specialist, Data Scientist, Decision Science Manager, Business Analyst, Analytics Manager, Statistical Modelling, Statistical Analyst, Marketing Research Analytics, and Operations Analytics Manager.


Analytics Jobs By Cities

  • In terms of cities, Bengaluru once again accounts for the maximum proportion of open jobs, contributing around 23% of Analytics jobs in India. Although this is a marginal decrease from 25% in January 2020 and from 24% last year, this is representative of Bengaluru remaining the preferred hiring destination over the previous 4 years.
    • This is evident because Bengaluru is home to the maximum number of Analytics start-ups, and the year-on-year increase in funding in Indian Analytics start-ups has translated to a greater proportion of job openings in Bengaluru.
    • Moreover, most of the Technology, IT, and Boutique Analytics firms run the majority of their Digital, Analytics, and Data Science operations from the city, propelling the city to the top of the list of the preferred location for open jobs.

Delhi/ NCR comes second contributing 20% of the analytics jobs in India, down from 21% in January 2020, and from 22% a year ago.

  • For August 2020, the proportion of jobs advertised for both Bengaluru and Delhi are the lowest since 2017, signifying a shift in the preference of companies advertising jobs for other locations.
    • Moreover, the unfortunate pandemic has resulted in numerous roles and job openings advertised with the possibility of remote work – or location independence. Hence, the proportionate jobs with Bengaluru and Delhi as locations have correspondingly reduced.
  • Approximately 15% of the Analytics jobs are advertised for Mumbai. This is a marginal increase from 14% in January 2020 and a marginal decrease from 14.7% last year.  This increase in proportion is largely due to the base effect of the total number of jobs. While the overall number of Analytics jobs across India has decreased, the number of jobs advertised for Mumbai has marginally decreased, and hence there has been a proportionate increase in jobs advertised with Mumbai as the location.
    • Mumbai is the financial and business hub of the nation. Most investment banks, hedge funds and financial institutions, whether Domestic or MNC BFSIs, run the bulk of their financial and Analytics operations from Mumbai.
    • Moreover, many domestic conglomerates, including the Tata Group and the Reliance group, among others, have their headquarters in Mumbai, with the Data Science divisions of these firms also operating out of Mumbai.
    • Hence, the jobs advertised for Mumbai has not seen a corresponding fall (in proportionate figures) as the bulk of these firms have resumed hiring post the resumption of business activity after the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad all saw marginal growth in the proportion of jobs in August 2020, year over January 2020, and over last year.

  • Pune has seen a fall in the proportionate jobs advertised in August 2020 from January 2020 but has seen an increase over last year.
  • The proportion of jobs advertised for Other Cities, or Tier-II and Tier-III cities, has increased this year to 10.5% from 8.4% in January 2020, and from 10% last year. This increase in the proportion of jobs advertised for Other Cities, includes jobs advertised for remote work locations.
    • The unfortunate pandemic has resulted in many companies offering the facility of remote work for their employees.

Analytics Jobs By Sector Or Industry (Excluding Analytics Jobs In The IT Sector)

  • Banking & Financial Sector: Although this sector continues to be the biggest influencer in the Analytics job market (outside of the IT sector), with 35% of all Analytics jobs, the open job positions in this sector continue the decreasing trend from 36% in January 2020, 38.3% last year and from 41% in 2018.
  • Pharma & Healthcare Industry: This sector saw an increase in the proportion of Analytics jobs from 16.1 % in January 2020 to 16.3% in August 2020. The proportion of jobs has increased because of the focus on developing vaccines and other cures for the COVID-19 virus. Moreover, hiring in this industry has seen an increasing trend, from 11.1% in 2018 to 12.6% in 2019 (last year). This is attributed to Pharma companies hiring Analytics professional amid an increased cost-cutting trend across the sector influenced by heightened demand and increased competition.
  • E-commerce: The proportion of Analytics jobs in the e-commerce sector saw the largest increase – 14.6% in August 2020 from 11% in January 2020 and 12% in 2019. This sector’s contribution to Data Science jobs in India decreased at the start of this year after increasing the previous years. The proportion of open jobs in January 2020 decreased from 12% in 2019 (the proportion in 2019 correspondingly increased from 8% in 2018).
  • Energy & Utilities: The proportion of jobs in the Energy & Utilities sector has dropped to 9.5% in August 2020 from 10.6% in January 2020 and 13.1% in 2019. Moreover, the proportion of jobs in this sector is the lowest since 2017. While for August 2020 the drop has been attributed to the drop in demand because of the lockdown, for the larger period, since 2017, systemic issues in the power sector have affected the proportion of jobs. These issues were mainly a result of lower economic growth over the years.
  • Media & Entertainment: The rise in the proportion of analytics jobs for the Media & Entertainment sector, despite the lockdown, is the result of greater consumption of digital and online media since March 2020. Moreover, this sector has seen a steady rise in the proportion of Analytics jobs over the years as there is a greater demand for Analytics in the growing digital media and online streaming sub-vertical.
  • Retail & CPG: The proportion of open jobs advertised for the Retail & CPG sector is 3.8% in August 2020, down from a proportion of 6.8% in January 2020 and 6% last year. The drop in the August figure for the open Analytics jobs reverses a 3-year trend of growth in the proportion of jobs in Analytics across this sector. The Retail & CPG sector has been one of the worst affected by the lockdown and the unfortunate pandemic, with the shutdown of most non-essential shops, retail establishments, and malls continuing till July across many cities.
  • Automobile: The proportion of Analytics jobs for the Automobile sector has seen a contraction to 3.5% in August 2020, from 3.7% in January 2020 and 5.5% from 2019. Moreover, the August 2020 figure is the lowest since 2018. While the drop in August figures is directly related to the complete shutdown in Automobile production till June 2020, the consistent drop in the proportion of Analytics jobs from 2018 is due to the drop in automobile sales through 2019 and early 2020 (prior to the lockdown).

The overall effect of the lockdown on travel & hospitality sector has resulted in a significant drop to 0.4% of the overall Analytics jobs from a level of 2.7% from January 2020 and 2019.


Experience Requirement For Analytics Jobs

  • The year 2020 began with an increase in the proportion of mid-senior and senior-level open jobs in Analytics from junior levels last year. This trend has continued until August 2020 with a greater proportion of senior-level jobs advertised.
  • The proportion of jobs for 7 – 10 years’ experience range increased to 14.9% in August 2020 from 12.5% in January 2020 and from 6.7% last year. This increase took place after successive year-on-year drops from 11.2% in 2017 to 10.5% in 2018 and 6.7% in 2019 (last year).
  • The proportion of jobs for 10 to 15 years of experience increased to 11% in August 2020 after doubling to 8.6% in January 2020 from 4.3% last year.

The proportion of Jobs greater than 15 years of experience saw a big jump to 4.9% in August 2020 after almost tripling to 2.8% in January 2020 from 1.0% last year

  • The proportion of jobs in August 2020 for experience levels greater than 7 years has been the highest since 2017.
  • This secular increase in the proportion of jobs for senior-level positions is due to the consolidation in Analytics function in India:
    • This consolidation has resulted in a greater proportion of senior-level Analytics jobs in India as against junior level Analytics jobs.
    • The trend of a greater proportion of jobs for experienced professionals endures despite an overall recessionary environment and a reduction in job numbers. This further signifies a maturing Analytics and Data Science domain in India.
    • While there has been an overall drop in the total number of Analytics jobs, the relative or proportionate demand remains high for experienced Analytics professionals across enterprises and sectors, including:
      • A greater proportion of Analytics jobs in the Pharma and Healthcare space as Analytics is a key function in the Domestic Pharma firms and MNC Pharma enterprises.
      • A greater proportion of Analytics jobs in the E-commerce space after the increase in online shopping.
      • A greater proportion of jobs in the Media & Entertainment sector because of the growth of digital media and entertainment and streaming platforms.
    • The 5% proportion of jobs advertised for the experience level greater than 15 years highlights the hiring of leadership roles across the Data Science domain, instead of roles focused on delivery or programme management. This is further emphasised by the combined proportion of 31% of jobs for Analytics positions with experience greater than 7 years.
  • Correspondingly, 69% of Analytics job openings are for professionals with less than 7 years of job experience.  The proportion of jobs has reduced for the lower experience categories – the proportions are at the lowest level since 2017:
    • For the experience category of 5-7 years, the proportion of jobs has decreased to 18.6% in August 2020 from a proportion of 19.3% in January 2020 and last year (2019).
    • For the experience category of 2-5 years, the proportion of jobs has decreased to 20.6% in August 2020 from a proportion of 24.1% in January 2020 and a proportion of 25.4% last year.
    • For the experience category of 1-2 years, the proportion of jobs has decreased to 16.6% in August 2020 from a proportion of 17.9% in January 2020 and a proportion of 22.4% in 2019.

For the experience category of 0-1 years, the proportion of jobs has decreased to 13.3% in August 2020 from a proportion of 14.7% in January 2020 and a proportion of 20.9% in 2019.


Analytics Jobs By Tools & Technologies

The figures researched for the jobs across the categories of Tool and Technologies are a proportion of Total Analytics Jobs.

  • The demand for Python professionals continues to remain the highest. Almost 27% of advertised jobs require Python as a core skill, up from 18.5% at the beginning of the year, and 17% last year.
  • The proportion of Java/Javascript jobs has also increased to 22% in August 2020 from 16% in January 2020 and last year. 
  • R skills come third at 10% of all analytics jobs, the same as last year, while demand for SAS skills has almost halved in proportion to 4% in August 2020 from 8% in January 2020 and from 6% last year. 

Among Dashboarding and BI tools, Tableau skills are most in-demand (increasing to 11% in August 2020 from 8% in January 2020 and from 6% last year), followed by Microsoft Power BI (increasing to 6.5% from 3% in January 2020, and from 2% in 2019).

  • Cloud Solutions continue to see an across the board increase in proportion because of greater adoption of Cloud platforms across enterprises not just during the lockdown but also across a wider period.
    • Analytics recruiters continue to demand AWS, the most preferred Cloud skill, which increased to 15% in August 2020, from 12% in January 2020 and from 7% last year.
    • The proportion of jobs for Azure skills comes in second at 9.7% in August 2020 from 7% in January 2020 and from 4% last year.
    • Similarly, the proportion of jobs for Google Cloud has increased to 5% in August 2020, from 4% in January 2020, and from 1% last year. Similarly, the proportion of jobs for Oracle Cloud has also increased.
  • The proportionate demand for skills across Big Data tools is similar to the figures for January 2020, when the proportion of jobs significantly dropped from the figures of 2019 — with Hadoop dropping to 2% in January 2020 from 7% last year, and Hive falling to 1% in January 2020 from 4% last year.
  • This year the demand for statistical modelling techniques marginally decreased across the spectrum. Just as in January 2020 and in 2019, Segmentation has the greatest proportion of jobs this year, followed by Clustering
  • Among databases, demand for SQL (including MS Azure SQL) increased to 9% in August 2020 after falling to 8% in January 2020 from 19% last year. Amazon Redshift increased to 6.7% in August 2020 after increasing to 4% in January 2020 from an insignificant 0.13% last year, highlighting the greater demand for Amazon Redshift as a database platform in conjunction with AWS Cloud.
  • This year, AIMResearch has introduced the analysis of Data-as-a-Service platforms, which is gaining adoption for the delivery of end-to-end Analytics solutions on the Cloud. The proportionate jobs for the Snowflake platform were the highest in this sub-category at 2.2% of Analytics jobs, followed by Cloudera at 1.5% of analytics jobs.

Salaries Advertised For Analytics Jobs

  • The median salary advertised across Analytics jobs in India is INR 9.5 Lakhs/annum – advertised salaries tend to be lower than actual salaries. 
  • This decline in median salary for all jobs advertised is due to the cumulative effect of the following:
    • The recessionary environment has resulted in a net lower salary advertised for a significant proportion of jobs.
    • A significant proportion of jobs are advertised with no salary figures – this withholding of salary gives employers more negotiating power when providing a job offer, especially during the time of recessions and significant job layoffs across enterprises.
  • There has been a decline in the proportion of advertised jobs with salaries greater than Rs. 15 Lakhs:
    • 13.1% of all advertised jobs in August 2020 offer a salary greater than Rs. 15 Lakhs as opposed to 14% in January 2020, and 23% in 2019.
    • 10.3% of all advertised jobs in August 2020 offer a salary between Rs. 15-25 Lakhs as against 10.5% in January 2020 and 16% in 2019.
    • 2.5% of all advertised jobs in August 2020 offer a salary between Rs. 25-50 Lakhs as against 3% in January 2020 and 6% in 2019
    • The decline in the proportion of jobs for salaries in higher brackets or levels would imply a decrease in the proportion of jobs for personnel with greater experience. However, the two are not correlated as the research has revealed that a greater proportion of jobs in higher experience levels do not have the salary details listed.
  • Hence, the decline in the proportion of advertised jobs in the higher salary ranges is attributed to the following factor:
    • Employers withholding salary details of the higher paying Analytics jobs — this provides employers more negotiating power at the time of salary discussions. It is all the more significant during the recessionary environment as there are proportionately fewer jobs, more candidates, and a greater likelihood of negotiating lower salaries when offers are made.
  • 30.7% of Analytics jobs have been advertised in the salary range of 6-10 Lakhs, followed by 27.7% for the 3-6 Lakh salary range.

The proportion of jobs for both these ranges (6-10 and 3-6 Lakhs) have marginally increased to their current levels from 30% and 27% respectively in January 2020 – which, in turn increased from 25% and 22% respectively in 2019.

  • Almost 69% of all advertised Analytics jobs in India are offering a salary of less than 10 Lakh, compared to 60% last year
  • A combined proportion of 86.9% of the advertised jobs is for a salary of less than 15 Lakhs.

Analytics Jobs By Company Type

  • The trend of an increasing a proportionate of job demand from MNC IT & KPO Service – 67.8% of the jobs in August 2020 fall under this category – the highest proportion this year and an increase from 59.4% from last year. The figure for August 2020 has decreased from a proportion of 74.6% at the start of the year.
    • The year on year increase is attributed to a greater number of international IT and KPO corporations shifting more analytics jobs to India. 
    • The fall in proportion from the beginning of the year till date is attributed to a pause in hiring across almost all roles in these companies. This pause in hiring is a direct effect of the recessionary environment.
  • Approximately 19% of all Analytics jobs advertised this year are from Domestic IT & KPO Service Providers as against 13% advertised last year (2019), which was down from 21% in 2018. Moreover, the figure for August 2020 has risen from an annual low of 9% in January 2020. This fall in proportion till January 2020 was attributed to greater hiring in other companies vs the Domestic IT and KPO companies. That trend, however, reversed as a result of the recessionary environment due to the unfortunate pandemic, with Domestic IT companies announcing that hiring would continue despite the economic environment.
  • Just over 3 years back, captive centres in India had one of the highest proportion of Analytics job requirements. This category has seen thea proportionate of open jobs fall to 5.8% in August 2020, from 11% in January 2020 and from 8% last year.

As cost centres, Captive Centres are the first to reduce hiring and increase layoffs in the event of a recessionary phase. Hence there has been a fall in the proportionate job numbers for Captive Centres.  

  • 5% of Analytics jobs are advertised by Indian Consumer firms – increasing from 1.6% in January 2020, and from 4% last year (2019), when the figures were correspondingly down from 9% in 2018. With the launch or growth of numerous consumer-focused online platforms by domestic firms, such as Jio Mart and Tata online retail, in the second half of 2020, and the expansion of digital payments, digital advertising, and digital media ever since the start of the lockdown, numerous Indian firms in the B2C sector have ramped up hiring in the Analytics space to reach out to a wider audience despite the recessionary environment.
  • The proportion of jobs advertised by Consulting firms, just as those for the Captive Centres, has seen a large drop to 2.5% of all the jobs advertised. The Consulting companies also run their Analytics operations in India as cost centres – and have reduced hiring as a direct result of the recessionary environment. This proportion of 2.5% is the lowest of all the Company types. Moreover, this continues the downward trend for Consulting jobs from 13.3% in 2019 to 3.7% in January 2019 to the current proportion of 2.5%.

Conclusion

There are approximately 93,500 jobs open at a given point in time in the month of August 2020, a 1.6% decrease from the same period a year ago, and from 109,000 at the beginning of this year.

This fall in job numbers is a direct result of the recessionary environment, due to the unfortunate pandemic, on the job market. While the job figures have contracted year on year in absolute terms, the current absolute figures in jobs for August 2020 have increased 13% from a low of 82,500 in May 2020.

So while the job numbers have fallen, a study of the proportionate figures across various categories reveals the following:

  • Analytics jobs in MNC IT and KPO firms have proportionately increased over last year.
  • The year-on-year increase in advertised jobs by MNC IT & KPO Providers continues despite the recessionary environment.
  • Almost 68% of the jobs fall under this category, a fall from levels earlier this year, but an increase from levels of 60% last year.
  • While the rest of the world’s share in overall jobs fell, India’s share of open global Analytics jobs significantly increased over last year.
  • India contributed to 9.8% of the total global Analytics job openings, a jump from 7.2% of total global job openings in January of this year.
  • During the same period last year (August 2019), India contributed approximately 7% of worldwide open job requirements.
  • Bengaluru accounts for the maximum proportion of open jobs, contributing around 23% of Analytics jobs in India.
  • The proportion of jobs advertised for Other Cities has increased to 10.5% from 8.4% in January 2020 and from 10% last year.
  • This proportion of jobs advertised for Other Cities, includes jobs advertised for remote work locations, which is a direct consequence of the effects of the lockdown.
  • The median salaries advertised in India is INR 9.5 Lakhs, down from INR 11.5 Lakhs a year ago.
  • A greater proportion of leadership and senior job positions are now advertised in the Analytics domain.
  • The proportion of jobs for the experience levels greater than 7 years is the highest since 2017 – with a combined proportion of 31%.
  • Outside of the IT sector, the Banking & Financial sector advertised the largest proportion of job positions, with 35% of all jobs posted.
    • Jobs in the BFSI sector continue the decreasing trend from 38.3% last year.
    • The Pharmaceutical Industry comes in second with 16.3% proportion of jobs this year, up from 12.6% last year.
    • E-commerce too, has registered significant growth in Analytics jobs, advertising a proportion of 14.6% of jobs.

As Analytics-as-a-Service becomes a key factor in identifying consumer trends and insights, especially during times of recessionary crisis, Analytics hiring continues across large MNC IT, Domestic IT organisations and Domestic Indian firms. However, given the recession impact on demand for goods and services, and the enormous pool of prospective employees and job-seekers, the Analytics market continues to be an employer-discretionary market.  Nonetheless, niche Analytics roles in India would need to be filled as the proportion of Analytics jobs in India vs global Analytics roles continues to rise.


Read the complete report here:


Share
Picture of Siddhartha Thomas

Siddhartha Thomas

"Siddhartha is an industry research professional with areas of interest across the Digital Media,Traditional Media, and Technology sectors. Siddhartha studies and researches organizations and industries from the perspective of innovation, finance, and strategic management. He has extensive research and knowledge management experience across numerous large and small organizations."
Related Posts

CORPORATE TRAINING PROGRAMS ON GENERATIVE AI

Generative AI Skilling for Enterprises

Our customized corporate training program on Generative AI provides a unique opportunity to empower, retain, and advance your talent.

Upcoming Large format Conference

May 30 and 31, 2024 | 📍 Bangalore, India

Download the easiest way to
stay informed

Subscribe to The Belamy: Our Weekly Newsletter

Biggest AI stories, delivered to your inbox every week.

AI Courses & Careers

Become a Certified Generative AI Engineer

AI Forum for India

Our Discord Community for AI Ecosystem, In collaboration with NVIDIA. 

Flagship Events

Rising 2024 | DE&I in Tech Summit

April 4 and 5, 2024 | 📍 Hilton Convention Center, Manyata Tech Park, Bangalore

MachineCon GCC Summit 2024

June 28 2024 | 📍Bangalore, India

MachineCon USA 2024

26 July 2024 | 583 Park Avenue, New York

Cypher India 2024

September 25-27, 2024 | 📍Bangalore, India

Cypher USA 2024

Nov 21-22 2024 | 📍Santa Clara Convention Center, California, USA

Data Engineering Summit 2024

May 30 and 31, 2024 | 📍 Bangalore, India

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

The Belamy, our weekly Newsletter is a rage. Just enter your email below.