Big data and analytics may be the hottest sector, but India has a serious dearth of data scientists

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• The demand for big data and analytics experts as India’s Information Technology (IT) services push for a digital edge has never been greater. But, the country reportedly has fewer than 10% of data scientists available globally, according to a recent report.
  
• With the need of faster decision-makers in the IT industry, the demand for big data professionals is expected to rise by 40% in next two years.
  
• Over 20%-30% of the total revenue for major IT companies – Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, HCL -- now comes from digital services including big data and analytics.

Big data and analytics is one of hottest sectors, particularly for Indian information technology services (IT) companies as they aim to capitalise on the technologies’ potential for simplifying business processes, and helping companies become more competitive. However, it appears that India severely lacks data scientists.

India reportedly has less than 10% of data scientists available globally, according to the professional network LinkedIn. While the US has over 40% skilled professionals in the big data and analytics domain.

These numbers show that India may be challenged to effectively serve the growing data servicing market. With the need for fast decision-makers, the demand for big data professionals is expected to rise by 40% in the next two years, Business Standard reported stating a US Department of Statistics report.

The gap is likely to be a big worry for India’s competitive IT services companies that have begun efforts towards training staff in data science.

About 75% companies in India have invested or planning to invest in data science, according to Gartner.

Wipro is reportedly offering training under its ‘School of Decision Sciences’ programme to skill staff on analytics and business insights.

Pareekh Jain, an independent IT outsourcing advisor, reportedly said that data scientists form the backbone of industries that rely on technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

According to ‘Future of Jobs 2018’ report, with advances in machines and growing technologies like artificial intelligence can potentially replace 75 million jobs by 2020.

With inputs from IANS

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