Tech Mahindra to train additional 10K employees on automation this year

Automation is an area where Tech Mahindra is heavily focused on with an aim of making company competitive, Tech Mahindra Vice Chairman Vineet Nayyar said on an investor call.

"...so far around 11,000 employees have been training in automation technologies while company intends to train an additional 10,000 associates during the year," he added.

Nayyar said during the first two quarters, Tech Mahindra generated "productivity worth over 3,200 persons in different projects", encompassing close to half of the employees based in IT. At the end of September 2017 quarter, Tech Mahindra had a total headcount of 1,17,225 people. Of these, 75,587 people were in software business, while 35,287 were part of BPO operations.

The company had said at the end of September quarter, close to 70 per cent of the total employees -- starting from delivery to sales and support -- have completed training in different modules of digital technologies like Big Data/ analytics, cloud, mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), AR-VR, machine learning, robotics and Bitcoin.

By end of FY18, the company intends to take the number to close to 80 per cent.

IT companies – big and small – are betting big on new technologies like automation and artificial intelligence to drive productivity and efficiency.

While automation is expected to bring in cost benefits for clients, there are also concerns that increasing automation could lead to job losses.

Earlier in the year, there were reports that thousands of people could be laid off this year from companies like Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant.

The reports were refuted by industry body Nasscom that said the industry will hire about 1.5 lakh people this year on "net" basis although techies will have to re-skill themselves to stay relevant.

It had also pointed out that new opportunities are emerging in areas like tech start-ups, e-commerce, Digital India and digital payments and as many as 3 million new jobs are expected to be created by 2025.

Mumbai: The financial services industry is resorting to apprenticeship models to recruit and develop talent pool for niche and new segments that are evolving within the sector, according to industry experts.

"Due to allocation of licences there is growth in banks, which demands new skills and volume. Also, with introduction of GST the sector is facing a scarcity of tax professionals with the required knowledge," TeamLease Services Vice President, NETAP (National Employability Through Apprenticeship Program) Sumit Kumar said.

The sector is seeing a growth over couple of years and hence the skill shortage is becoming evident, he added.

"While the concept of apprenticeship has been there in the manufacturing sector, today the financial services sector is warming up to the concept to bridge the supply gap. Around 1,000 candidates have been employed across many leading financial services companies," he said.

The talent gap is witnesses in specialised segments, like fin-tech, payment banks, analytics among others, he said.

Echoing the view, Michael Page India Director Anshul Lodha said financial services industry is only facing lack of talent in niche and upcoming areas like digital and analytics, senior sales professionals, CxO level professionals in banking and other upcoming industries like NBFC's, housing finance companies, fin-tech firms among others.

"We have witnessed this trend only over the last 12-18 months since new banking licences were given and recent surge in non-banking financial company (NBFC), fintech and other similar areas," he added.

While lower level jobs in banking (retail and branch banking) are facing the heat of automation and digitisation leading to all major banks trimming their employee base at this level at the same time demand for specialist roles at mid to senior level have picked up great momentum in the last couple of years, he said.

"Overall, we expect lower level jobs in banking to steadily decline by 10-15 per cent every year for the next few years, whereas hiring momentum will pick up by 15-20 per cent for mid to senior level professionals," he added.

For certain niche and upcoming areas like digital or analytics, banks are resorting apprenticeship model for the last 12-18 months to bridge the supply gap, he said.

"This is on account of the fact that there aren't too many educational institutes offering specialised courses in these areas, hence leading to a supply gap," he added.

Going forward, he said, sectors including banking, aerospace, defense, telecom, automobiles are likely to adopt apprenticeship programmes to bridge talent-supply gap.