Bengaluru: Generative AI It has generated a lot of excitement across the industry, and Machine Learning (ML) is on the rise in India. Recruitment companies Randstad According to the company, since the pandemic, hiring for AI and ML-related roles has increased 30% annually, while demand for other digital skills has increased at half that rate. It estimates that there are around 200,000 professionals with AI/ML skills in India.
Rohit Kishore, Global Delivery and Talent Officer, Randstad, said the growing importance of Gen AI is creating new job roles and organizations are constantly striving to incorporate AI and ML at the core of their digital transformation efforts. Several implementations have demonstrated that AI/ML can automate a large number of processes and contribute significantly to improving human productivity.
Jan Bahadur, director of talent solutions at professional services firm Aon, said global capability centers (GCCs) of multinational companies in India are driving the increased demand for AI and ML-related roles. GCCs are the technology and shared services arms of multinational companies. More and more GCCs are being set up in India and new ones are also emerging that leverage Indian tech talent to help their parent companies in their digital transformation. “Even traditional companies now want to digitize and AI/ML is a key component. These companies are spread across various industries including healthcare and manufacturing. That's the difference between 2021 and now,” Bahadur said.
Aon data found that salaries for AI and ML roles are significantly higher than most other roles, with product companies paying the highest salaries. For someone with 0-5 years of AI/ML experience in IT services companies, the salary ranges from INR 1.4 million to INR 1.8 million, compared to INR 1.6 million to INR 2 million in the GCC and INR 2.2 million to INR 2.6 million in product companies. At the same experience level, salaries for other digital technology roles range from INR 8 million to INR 2.2 million.
For those with 10-15 years of AI/ML experience, salaries range from Rs 4.4 million to Rs 9.6 million. Bahadur said AI/ML specialists can expect a 12.5% salary increase this year, compared with the 9% expected in other sectors in Indian companies. HR solutions firm Teamlease said AI and ML roles are fetching a 10-15% salary premium over other technology roles. In some cases, the premium can reach 50%.
Krishna Vij, business head at Teamlease, says that at least 12 new roles are emerging in the AI/ML space. At the entry level, there are roles such as chatbot developer and prompt engineer. At the mid-to-senior level, there are roles such as AI ethics specialist and robotics engineer. In education technology, there are roles such as AI curriculum developer and AI learning architect.
Vij added that upskilling of existing talent could help fill some of these roles – for example, an IT security expert could become an AI security expert.
Rohit Kishore, Global Delivery and Talent Officer, Randstad, said the growing importance of Gen AI is creating new job roles and organizations are constantly striving to incorporate AI and ML at the core of their digital transformation efforts. Several implementations have demonstrated that AI/ML can automate a large number of processes and contribute significantly to improving human productivity.
Jan Bahadur, director of talent solutions at professional services firm Aon, said global capability centers (GCCs) of multinational companies in India are driving the increased demand for AI and ML-related roles. GCCs are the technology and shared services arms of multinational companies. More and more GCCs are being set up in India and new ones are also emerging that leverage Indian tech talent to help their parent companies in their digital transformation. “Even traditional companies now want to digitize and AI/ML is a key component. These companies are spread across various industries including healthcare and manufacturing. That's the difference between 2021 and now,” Bahadur said.
Aon data found that salaries for AI and ML roles are significantly higher than most other roles, with product companies paying the highest salaries. For someone with 0-5 years of AI/ML experience in IT services companies, the salary ranges from INR 1.4 million to INR 1.8 million, compared to INR 1.6 million to INR 2 million in the GCC and INR 2.2 million to INR 2.6 million in product companies. At the same experience level, salaries for other digital technology roles range from INR 8 million to INR 2.2 million.
For those with 10-15 years of AI/ML experience, salaries range from Rs 4.4 million to Rs 9.6 million. Bahadur said AI/ML specialists can expect a 12.5% salary increase this year, compared with the 9% expected in other sectors in Indian companies. HR solutions firm Teamlease said AI and ML roles are fetching a 10-15% salary premium over other technology roles. In some cases, the premium can reach 50%.
Krishna Vij, business head at Teamlease, says that at least 12 new roles are emerging in the AI/ML space. At the entry level, there are roles such as chatbot developer and prompt engineer. At the mid-to-senior level, there are roles such as AI ethics specialist and robotics engineer. In education technology, there are roles such as AI curriculum developer and AI learning architect.
Vij added that upskilling of existing talent could help fill some of these roles – for example, an IT security expert could become an AI security expert.
