The fast adoption of emerging technologies in the country has spurred demand for new-age digital skills like artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics. And India's largest IT outsourcing company believes in catching them young. According to The Times of India, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has offered about 1,000 freshers who possess cutting-edge digital skills, nearly double the salary it typically offers to those coming out of campuses.
The company offered the recruited graduates a pay packet of about 6.5 lakh. In comparison, the entry-level salary of Indian engineers in the IT industry has been stuck at about Rs 3.5 lakh per annum for the past decade. The selection of these freshers was based on their clearing a test focused on new digital areas.
Last month, TCS held an all-India online test called the National Qualifier Test (NQT). The company, one of the biggest recruiters from Indian engineering institutes, claimed that the "digitised process of hiring" would not only enable it to reach out to a far larger talent base - across nearly 2,000 colleges, up from its current pool of 370 colleges - but also wrap up the hiring process much faster. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm was reportedly following it up with video interview, or a face-to face interview, depending on applicant's location. While the company said it will not end the traditional campus recruitment process, it plans to focus more on the NQT going forward.
Significantly, from this year, the candidates who ace the test will qualify for the separate digital skills-based examination. "People who have done well in the NQT will get a chance to write another test for the digital talent pool, and if they clear and go through the interview, then they will get into the digital pool and their compensation will be differentiated," Ajoy Mukherjee, executive VP and head of global human resources, told the daily.
The second test will be longer, requiring good coding skills since it involves programming with a higher degree of difficulty compared to the NQT.
The development is in line with industry body NASSCOM's prediction of a 9% growth rate for new job roles in the tech space. In July, Debjani Ghosh, the software body's president, had predicted that the industry would add one lakh new jobs in 2018-19, of which a majority would be in areas such as AI and Internet of Things. "The total demand for AI and big data analytics in 2018 will be 5.11 lakh, which will increase to 7.86 lakh by 2021," she had said. And since the demand for such specialists far outstrips current supply, they command better salaries and appraisals across levels.
According to the daily, Mukherjee declined to comment on the number of people who would be hired as part of the digital pool this year, saying that the process is still on. However he made it clear that the numbers would be nearly the same or higher than the last academic year, when it had recruited 1,000 people.