Nine out of ten Indians are worried about losing their skills to technology in coming five years

In a four-nation study, India came out to be the only market with a majority of employees fearing the future impact of technology on their jobs, with as much as 79% of business leaders and 63% of other employees Indians surveyed believing that automation and artificial intelligence could in future make their skills obsolete, thus replacing them.

The results are from the India-specific research of Global skill development firm City & Guilds Group's first Skills Confidence Report, which covered 8,000 employees in the UK, US, South Africa and India. The India research, conducted by Censuswide in May 2016, had 2,055 respondents, with 272 CEOs or senior leaders, 532 middle managers and 1,251 general employees.

The study aimed at the confidence levels of the working population according to their skills and jobs that they have today, while also examining the impact of vocational training and skill development. As per the results, 91% of Indian respondents felt that their skills would not be useful in the next five years.

Not only this, the skill gaps in Indian organisations were also the most as compared to other nations, with 88% of Indian respondents identifying skill gaps in their organization. The figure was 67% in the UK, 68% in the US and 82% in South Africa.

However, India’s workforce is confident in the government's skills initiatives as 87% Indian respondents believed that we have the right skills to make 'Make in India' a success.

About 80% of Indians surveyed had faith in their skills required to work abroad, however 40% of them were worried about the effects of 'brain drain'.

Talking of the role of MNCs, about 46% of Indians and 45% of South African respondents believe that MNC work experience is vital for their future, visa-vis 21% in the UK and 25% in the US.

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