One of the biggest driver of job creation in a modern economy is entrepreneurship. If the Indian startup story is anything to go by, the country is in the middle of an exciting phase as far as entrepreneurship is concerned. The Government appears to have sensed this opportunity well and come out with extremely supportive initiatives like Startup India. Though temporary shakeups in the shape of scaling down of operations and closure of several startups in the recent past may well have raised some concern regarding startups’ ability to sustain job creation, I am sure, such setbacks are only a passing phase in the overall evolution of the startup sector in India. Their presence will not only help the economy diversify rapidly but facilitate job creation as well.
Now coming to Telecommunications, the sector has over the years not just emerged as the most powerful catalyst of change in the economy but turned out to be a significant driver of job creation, both directly and indirectly. According to the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), today the sector accounts for about 9.8 million jobs directly and indirectly. As per National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)’s Skill Gap Study, direct employment in the sector is expected to double from 2.08 million in 2013 to about 4.16 million by 2022.
The job creation process in the sector happens in a fairly wide and dynamic ecosystem. Sales and distribution networks of operators and handset marketers extend to the remotest corners of the country involving millions of retailers. Mobile technology too has evolved from 2G to 4G in a matter of few years, which has not only meant introduction of new network equipment but entry of new generation of handsets. The customer care apparatus of operators – B2B and B2C – too has expanded quite rapidly in a very short span of time. Such a dynamic ecosystem has also meant that people count is not only going up quickly, but skill upgradation too is happening at a similar speed.
According to the TSSC Report, Telecommunications is expected to generate significant number of new jobs primarily in supervisory and managerial profiles in the broad areas of Retail & Distribution, Service Operations and Network & IT (Managed Services). According to the report, of the total workforce in the sector, the retail and handset segments will employ the highest with about 35% followed by service providers 29%, network and IT partners 18%, telecom gear manufacturing 15% and infrastructure providers 3%.
Manufacturing in the telecom sector, which has picked up significant momentum in the last couple of years is likely to create new job roles at multiple levels. Major global manufacturers like Foxconn have already announced big investment plans in this regard, making one optimistic that handset and telecom gear manufacturing is going to be a major source of job creation in the country in future.
The biggest challenge for the sector would however come in the shape of scaling up the skill development infrastructure in a manner that helps make trained service manpower available across urban, semi-urban and rural areas over and above making available skilled personnel for telecom related manufacturing. For instance, qualified mobile repair personnel can be as important in a village or semi urban areas as in a metro. The other challenge could be keeping people in the sector updated with the rapidly changing technologies through regular training modules. Some of the innovative ideas – mobile training vans, use of idle real estate belonging to telecom PSUs for training – being considered by Department of Telecommunications (DOT) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) can be particularly effective. Countrywide availability of trained telecom/digital manpower is going to be a critical ingredient for the success of ‘Digital India’.
Telecommunications is clearly going to be a major source of new job creation in the days to come. But more than its own standalone ability to generate new jobs, it is the sector’s transformational impact on other sectors to catalyse their respective job creation processes that holds the key to the problem of weak employment intensity. After all ‘a connected economy’ is not only more efficient and productive, but a powerful generator of jobs as well.
With a million young men and women joining the ranks of job aspirants every month, the challenge of job creation is going to be at the center of economic policymaking in the coming years. Acceleration of economic activities, particularly in sectors with higher employment potential and promotion of entrepreneurship will prove to be effective antidotes to the threat of slowdown in job creation. The Government has already indicated firms resolve to accelerate economic activities with several visionary initiatives – Make in India, Digital India, Startup India – which are being aided greatly by Ease of Doing Business reforms. Increased economic momentum should in turn enhance job opportunities in the economy, however the government, industry and other stakeholders need to be vigilant on this front as a jobless growth is something that a populous young nation can ill-afford.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder & Chairman, Bharti Enterprises writes this piece for FICCI publication “Economy of Jobs”
