New Delhi : According to a report by Great Learning, India’s leading ed-tech company for professional education, India is expected to see 1.5 lakh new openings in Data Science in 2020, an increase of about 62% as compared to 2019. Currently, 70% of job postings in this sector are for Data Scientists with less than five years of work experience. The sectors that are creating the greatest number of jobs in this field are:

The company also conducted a survey among Data Science professionals for better clarity on their pay scale. According to survey results, the BFSI sector offers the highest average salary to Data Science professionals followed by Manufacturing, Healthcare, IT and E-commerce.

Shortage of skilled talent

The sector has been reeling with massive shortage of skilled talent in the country. In 2019, as per a study by Great Learning, close to 97,000 positions related to analytics and data were vacant due to dearth of qualified talent. While there has been an increase in the number of professionals upskilling in data science, the job growth has outpaced this number, leading to lucrative career opportunities for professionals who are willing to upskill and segue into a new role. While the current analytics talent, especially at senior levels, have migrated from IT, the next generation will be expected to have specialized skills in data across all prominent industries making upskilling mandatory for a role in the new economy.

Career Paths and Remuneration

The report also lists down the various career paths that are available for Data Science professionals today and the remuneration on offer across different roles. Currently there are four unique career paths that have emerged with their entry level roles being Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Data Engineer and Business Intelligence Developer. The skill sets, tools, responsibilities and remuneration vary as per the career path chosen by a professional.

Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-founder, Great Learning said, “Organizations across domains are adopting emerging technologies at a fast pace in order to remain competitive and relevant in today’s market. With vast quantities of data being generated, the Data Science vertical is key to mining actionable insights for businesses. We are delighted to witness the growing demand for Data Analytics professionals in India. This has naturally resulted in professionals acknowledging the scope of this field are working towards upgrading their skills to meet the demand for Data Science professionals. 2020 is set to be a big year for Data Science in India.”