India’s diverse IT field

One positive impact of the otherwise tragic pandemic was that talent shifted to Tier 2/3 towns in India. While some returned to the cities, many continued indefinitely in small towns having secured Work From Home options. That led to the upgradation of infrastructure in these towns.

According to a Deloitte-NASSCOM report, in the past, Indian tech was clustered around seven major cities: Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. Now it appears that the small city boom may be here to stay as the report has identified 26 emerging technology hubs like Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Mangaluru, etc. This is really good news if we have 30+ tech towns in the coming years. The more the merrier.

Another report showed that more than a third of the Indian IT workforce are women. As it is about 50% of STEM pass-outs are women too. That’s both a diversity of geography and gender. There has been a surfeit of women leaders at the top in India IT and that’s why we came out with Women in Tech Powerhouse 40 Special. 40 is too small a number and we will be expanding that list soon.

While Indian-origin CEOs are dominating the tech world and the Indian IT Services sector is No. 1 in the world, our startup ecosystem has become the third largest. Another rising star is the GCC or Global Capability Center. All the above-mentioned things are boosting the GCC network which are centres of excellence and innovation. Their number has already crossed 1500 in India. Their AI capabilities will play a role in the ChatGPT era.

DQ has already been highlighting the role of technical schools (T-Schools) and other educational institutions in enabling the tech environment of India and enhancing skills. Overall skilling, upskilling, and reskilling are going to play a huge role in the fortunes of the country.

If India sees another stable government after the 2024 elections, we can roll full steam ahead. The US may not be able to say the same thing with the level of polarization there. In one way America, Europe, and China are all in some state of decline. It is India’s moment today. Tomorrow will see the rise of the rest of Asia, Africa, and South America. The globe may be unrecognizable at the end of the century taking today’s reality into account.