Despite accelerated digital transformation across industries, India continues to witness a digital skills gap, according to Coursera’s 2021 Global Skills Report (GSR). The country ranks 67th globally in data skills. In Asia, India ranks 16, below Singapore and Japan, but above Thailand and Philippines.
India’s digital skill proficiency stood at 38 percent. Globally, India ranks 55th in skills and 66th in technology and data science.
Raghav Gupta, Managing Director – India and APAC at Coursera, said, “The pace of skills transformation is slower than the pace of digital transformation in India, as is the case in several countries across the world. Learners must invest in both soft and technical skills to prepare for jobs of the future.”
Last year, over 5.7 million Indians joined Coursera.
Key insights from the report:
- Cloud computing is India’s strongest technology skill with 83 percent proficiency. India ranks among the top nine nations for global public cloud services, with growth rate higher than the global average, a report by Wheebox stated.
- As demand for data scientists outstrips supply worldwide, India is grappling with a shortage of data science professionals. GSR 2021 indicates that Indians have 52 percent proficiency in ML and 54 percent in mathematical skills. There is significant room for improvement in two key skills for digital transformation – Data Analysis and Statistical Programming.
- Indian women are adopting online learning faster.
With respect to overall course enrollment, the number of women enrolling for online courses increased by 10 percent in 2020 – the fourth highest globally. Similarly, women enrolment for STEM courses grew by 11 percent – the second highest globally.
However, women contribute to only 37 percent of the overall learner-share in the online learning platform.
Raghav added, “The report indicated that skills needed for high-demand, entry-level roles can be developed in a matter of months, not years.” This can be backed by GSR 2021 findings which states that recent graduates and mid-career changers can develop entry-level skills in 35 to 70-hours, whereas learners with no degree or tech experience can be job-ready in 80 to 240 hours (which equates to two to six months, with 10 learning hours per week).
The study draws on performance data since the pandemic’s onset, from more than 77 million learners on Coursera to benchmark skills proficiency across business, technology and data science for over 100 countries.
