Since a few years ago, the Indian IT sector has been the top destination for tech talent. But the situation is quickly shifting.

The tremendous push toward digitalization that has been driving the expansion of the automotive sector has created a great demand for tech skills in the industry. With car firms emerging as its main rival in attracting IT talent, IT appears to be losing the title of being the largest draw.

- Why Is There a Shift from IT To Auto?

The car industry's increased need for IT talent can be attributed in part to the following factors:

Rapid digitization: Every industry is trying to get on board with the digital wave, and the automotive sector is no exception with the growth of smart manufacturing and automated assembly lines.

Improved client experience: Automakers are experimenting with brand-new client interaction strategies that mainly rely on technology, such online car reservations, smart showrooms, and virtual reality test drives.

Other factors include greater IT hiring intentions in the EV industry and the use of robots and cloud-based operations throughout the whole supply chain.

- Demanding Skills in the Automobile Sector

The top tech talents in the car sector, outside fundamental topic knowledge, are as follows:

Intelligent systems and machine learning
Programming for robots, big data analysis
Developing and creating products
Supply chain planning and management from beginning to conclusion
Map of Indian Automotive Sector's Talent Pool

Non-tier 1 locations are progressively rising in popularity, despite the fact that car businesses still favour hiring employees from tier-1 cities like Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. By reaching out to potential candidates in tier 2 and tier 3 cities like Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, and Kochi that had previously gone virtually untouched, businesses have been successful in acquiring the appropriate personnel. According to Taggd's Automobile Sectoral Report 2022, automakers plan to recruit 45% more people from non-tier-1 cities than they did last year (35%).

At the beginning of 2022, Bangalore and Delhi in metro areas had the highest hiring demand (15%) in the car sector. Pune (12%), Chennai (10%), and Hyderabad (8%), three other tier-1 cities, too had considerable employment demand for the car sector.

- Industry Challenges with Talent Acquisition

Although there has been a change in the availability of tech expertise to the automotive sector, this sector still confronts substantial hurdles due to the shortage of qualified personnel. Several new tech positions have formed as a result of the industry's evolution and use of digital technology, including robots and IoT. Because of the persistent talent shortage, finding qualified applicants for these unfilled positions becomes a challenge for recruiters.

The low pay rates are a significant barrier to acquiring talent. The car business is well recognised for paying less than its competitors in the IT and telecom sectors, and as a result, it frequently takes longer to fill open positions.

- Expanding The Talent Pool Beyond the Traditional Hubs

Car companies must look for expertise in both established and new IT centres as the auto industry transitions to electric vehicles and digital services. The IT industry is prepared to grow by investing in small cities, which will relieve traffic in developed areas and give possibilities to local freshmen. A ranking of the top five rising IT centres worldwide includes Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

According to research by Taggd, Kolkata has a talent supply of 64,480 whereas Ahmedabad has a staggering 86,990.

- Conclusion

The demand for IT skills in the automotive sector is rising as a result of the consistent growth of the Indian car market. While the IT industry experienced a surge in need for IT expertise over the previous ten years, same demand has now shifted to the automotive industry.

The car business is brimming with employment prospects for tech expertise, thanks to efforts to increase the EV market and several government programmes focused on the automotive industry.

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