In five years, one in 10 jobs in India will disappear

By 2022, nearly one in 10 workers in India would be employed in jobs that do not even exist today. A combination of globalisation, demographic changes and new-age technologies will change the face of Indian industries, according to a EY report titled “Future of jobs in India: A 2022 perspective.” Even jobs that are prevalent today will evolve and 37 per cent of the workforce would be deployed in roles that would require radically changed skill sets.

The $160-billion IT-business process management (BPM) industry faces the biggest challenge in these changing times. Between 20 per cent and 35 per cent of the current employees in the sector are at risk of having their jobs wiped out by 2022. The pace of hiring is likely to slow down in India’s tech sector, which currently employs around 3.8 million people directly and 13 million indirectly, the report said. Compared to a historical growth rate of over 6 per cent, hiring in India’s IT-BPM sector is expected to increase by only between 3 per cent and 3.5 per cent year-on-year to reach 4.5 million by 2022. Nearly three-quarters of these jobs would require new skill sets. About 97 per cent of the 29 IT-BPM sector leaders believe that current employees need to undergo re-skilling to tap into these evolving opportunities. Of the 4.5 million openings created by 2022, between 450,000 and 900,000 would be deployed in the new jobs in IT-BPM.