India is expected to see almost 1.5 lakh new job openings in data science this year, as per a report by edtech firm Great Learning. This is almost an increase of about 62% from last year.

The report states that a majority of these jobs would preferably be for professionals with less than five years of experience. In 2019, as per the study by the company, close to 97,000 positions related to analytics and data remained empty due to a lack of qualified talent. 

Meanwhile, the top sectors hiring for this specialized talent remained BFSI, energy, pharma and healthcare and ecommerce, among a few others.

Great Learning Co-founder Hari Krishnan Nair said, “With vast quantities of data being generated, the data science vertical is key to mining actionable insights for businesses.”

More so, over the past few years, with the growing digital economy, data science has gained importance as it allows companies to better understand consumer mindsets to improve engagement and sales. The roles that are generally available in the entry roles, as per the study, include data scientist, data analyst, data engineer and business intelligence developer.

Great Learning arrived at these conclusions through a survey among working professionals in data science. The mix of respondents included executives, managers and senior managers. The results validate what has been a rising trend globally. A similar report by Freelancer.com also highlighted that the demand for data analytics and virtual assistant skills have seen an exceptional rise from employers who are seeking out employees who are ready to work remotely as well.

However while analytics skills remain in great demand, the irony remains that the country also faces a shortage of talent in these domains. What’s needed is an effort in skilling professionals at scale to bridge the gap between the opportunity at hand and the available talent.