India ahead in fintech skill, but overall proficiency has slipped: Report

Tribune News Service

Ravi S Singh

New Delhi, June 16

A “Global Skills Report (GSR)” 2022 of an international learning platform, “Coursera”, says India’s fintech skill acquisition has surged ahead of global average, but its overall skills proficiency has slipped.

The report says that in terms of overall skills proficiency, India has slipped 4 places to be ranked at the 68th position globally.

In Asia, India stands at the 19th position. It also shows an increase in India’s technology proficiency levels from 38% to 46%, with the country strengthening its position by six spots. On the other hand, proficiency in data science has dipped from 38% in 2021 to 26% in 2022, leading to a 12-rank drop. The Global Skills Report draws data from 100 million learners in more than 100 countries who have used Coursera to develop a new skill during the past year.

The report benchmarks three of the most in-demand skill areas driving employment in the digital economy -- business, technology, and data science. Indian learners are focusing on building technology skills.

As a result, with strong proficiency in key tech skills like cloud computing, theoretical computer science, and web development, India now ranks 56th globally in the domain compared to the 66th rank last year. Cloud Computing is India’s strongest technology skill with 74% proficiency, says the report. Indian learners continue to lag in With regard to data science skills, India scores low on foundational and specialized data science skills—Data Visualization (10%), Statistical Programming (14%), Data Management (22%) among others. The silver sunrise spot, comparatively, is that the strongest skill in the domain for India continues to be Machine Learning (41%). Learners in India are concentrating on financial skills.

The government, along with online learning platforms, fin-techs and experts in the financial sector have been emphasising the need for new-age financial skills. According to the GSR, learners in India are over-indexed in skills such as investment management (1.38x), blockchain (1.33x) and risk management (1.22x). With regards to performance of the States in India.

According to the GSR 2022, Indian learners in southern states perform better than those in states in the north across all the three domains.

The report says West Bengal leads the Indian states in terms of skills proficiency. It is ranked numero uno across the three domains. The state showed the highest levels of digital skills proficiency in the country, outpacing Karnataka (#4 in technology and #6 in data science) -0 the state where India’s Silicon Valley - Bengaluru is situated.

Learners in West Bengal also earned a perfect 100% proficiency in more than 10 skills, across the three domains, such as leadership & management, human resources, cloud computing, computer programming, ML, and data analysis. Andhra Pradesh is one of the top 3 performing states with high proficiency in business and technology skills. The government’s coordinated approach to skill development, public-private partnerships, and synergy through institutions like Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), has created a robust pool of skilled workers. The state learners have 100% proficiency in security engineering, operating systems, and computer networking.

Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and APAC, Coursera,said that Industry reports estimate that 28 million new technology jobs will be created in India by 2025.

“This year’s GSR signals a significant need for Indian learners to bridge the critical skills gap, especially in data science, to ensure this digital potential does not turn into a lost opportunity,” he added.

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