Only 5000 Indian developers are skilled to work on Blockchain, highlights report
Only 0.25 percent of India’s estimated two million software developers are equipped to work on Blockchain platforms, says a research report published by Bengaluru-based hiring solutions firm Belong.
When it comes to advanced technologies, Blockchain is one of the newest kids on the block, and has also become the most popular in less than a year. Of late, there has been a lot of focus on Blockchain by the government, and private players alike to streamline sectors based on this decentralised technology.
Though there has been increasing demand for Blockchain in India, one wonders about the supply of skilled developers to employ Blockchain initiatives. Does India have enough developers to work on this frontier technology?
A research conducted by Belong brought to fore that ‘only 0.25 percent of India’s estimated two million software developers are equipped to work on Blockchain platforms.’
The report reveals that currently, India has only 5,000 developers who possess all skills like data science, algorithms and cryptography to work on Blockchain platforms. Nearly 60 percent of these 5000 developers are working in IT and ITES firms, and the remaining are employed with financial solution providers and software product companies, the report says.
However, the Belong report indicated that apart from the 5000 developers who had been narrowed down on the basis of these three skills, India can train 10,000 more developers considering their experience in the fintech industry. Also, another 30,000 software developers who are exposed to these skills in back-end tech roles can be onboarded as Blockchain experts after upskilling them.
In a statement, Rishabh Kaul, co-founder of Belong, said, “Blockchain is primarily known for powering cryptocurrencies like bitcoins, and developers must essentially have skills in data science, algorithms and cryptography to work on such platforms. Having said this, the demand for Blockchain experts is only expected to further grow.”
In terms of hiring, the Belong report highlighted that companies have been facing challenges in finding talent to work on Blockchain platforms, despite the significant buzz around its use in streamlining industries. As per the research, ITES is the top recruiter of Blockchain talent at 60 percent, while computer software took the second spot at 28 percent, followed by financial services at 3 percent.
The research report finds that Bengaluru has the highest number of developers with Blockchain skills, followed by Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai.
Earlier, a Gartner survey of 3,000 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across several corporations around the world revealed that only one percent of CIOs indicated any kind of Blockchain adoption within their organisations, and only eight percent were in short-term planning or active experimentation with Blockchain.
The report further stated that while financial services and insurance companies are at the forefront of this activity, the transportation, government and utilities sectors are now becoming more engaged due to the heavy focus on process efficiency, supply chain and logistics opportunities and for telecom companies, interest lies in a desire to own the infrastructure wires and grasp the consumer payment opportunity.