India’s new government plans workforce reskilling in areas like the IoT and AI to become a world leader in emerging technologies.
The government plans to expand its ‘Skill India’ initiative with dedicated policies that ensure the nation’s youth can grasp important new technologies.
“Reskilling and upskilling are big on the incoming government’s agenda,” a senior government official told Economic Times India.
“We would like to ensure that individuals have access to economic opportunities by remaining competitive in the new world of work and that businesses have access to the talent they need for the jobs of the future.”
Alongside providing skills to a new workforce, the government aims to undertake the reskilling of existing workers. “The ministry is expected to incentivize sector skill councils as well as youth to undertake reskilling,” the official said.
India’s government will prepare its workforce reskilling curriculum based on demand from sectors it has identified as being ripe for disruption.
Some of the identified sectors include banking, manufacturing, financial services, insurance, e-commerce, retail, healthcare, logistics, smarthome and telecoms.
Yesterday, Microsoft provided a case study of how the company has partnered with ICICI Lombard to develop India’s first AI-enabled car inspection feature. This innovation takes ‘the pain out of car insurance’ and provides a good example of how IoT and AI technologies can benefit Indian society.
India has a huge workforce of around 500 million. A report from Nasscom predicts around 40 percent of workers (~200 million people) will need to be reskilled in the next five years with knowledge in areas like the IoT, AI, and blockchain.
The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide victory last year. BJP’s manifesto highlighted reskilling as a priority.
