The bad news is that jobs in the IT sector are not growing in sync with the growth in population and automation is making some job profiles disappear. But the good news is that automation is happening in newer sectors, and that newer job profiles are getting created, says Rajendra S Pawar, co-founder-Chairman of NIIT.

Unfazed by the doomsday predictions on IT jobs, Pawar is optimistic. He feels there was a need to reskill the 4 million-strong IT workforce to make them digitally ready. “It is a big task to re-purpose them to make them relevant and stay longer in work life,” he said.

The learning management and training firm is working with IT companies and engineering colleges to train staff and students in machine learning, artificial intelligence and big-data analytics. “We are using online platforms to reach out to employees in large numbers,” he said.

“Big manufacturing companies are not creating too many jobs. Jobs are a challenge. Non linearity (more than one skills) and automation are happening very fast,” Pawar, a former Chairman of Nasscom, told BusinessLine .

“Jobs as we know it, such as conventional programming and banking, have been hit. Newer jobs being created around services have not been labelled or documented yet. Take for example, jobs in the event management vertical; they are ‘engaged’ in some activity,” he said.

Talking on NIIT University, he said the master plan visualised a capacity of 5,000 students. “It will take some time (to reach that target). At present, we have 1,200 students on the campus in various streams,” he said.

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