With a growing ageing population across most developed nations, India is poised to play an important role in filling the demand-supply gap of skilled workers globally, a senior executive of TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship said.

Historically, Indian workers have migrated worldwide, but over the past decade, India has become a favoured destination for hiring skilled workers, experiencing an annual growth rate ranging from 15-20 per cent, largely due to the ageing population in developed nations, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship Vice President and Business Head Dhriti Prasanna Mahanta told PTI.

Going forward, this trend of global mobility of Indian workers is expected to witness 28-30 per cent growth in the next five years, he added.

According to reports, India is a young nation with 554 million people falling in the 15-64 years age group, Mahanta said.

“The Global Skill Gap Study’ by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) showed a growing demand for Indian talent across diverse sectors worldwide and projections indicate significant demand in regions such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Japan, and Malaysia, he added.

To address this demand, the Indian International Skilling Centre (IISC) Network aims to foster international workforce mobility, placing 1,00,000 skilled Indian candidates overseas, training 2,50,000 candidates through pre-departure orientation, and certifying 25,000 workers through recognition of prior learning assessment and certification overseas, he added.

Moreover, the ongoing labour agreements with countries like Japan and France is also helping India increase its prominence in the global labour market, Mahanta noted.

According to the latest data, Saudi Arabia has hired the maximum number of Indians (13,944), followed by Qatar (3,646) and UAE with 2,941 Indian workers.

As many as 12,000 people are currently undergoing training for international mobility, with 2,008 healthcare workers learning foreign languages, including Japanese, Italian and German, he said.

Further, in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, there is a high demand for professionals in the healthcare and old age care sectors, he added.

“There is a rising demand for construction skills in the GCC and Eastern European countries and almost all countries have a high demand for IT professionals. We are also observing the emerging need for green jobs,” he stated.

Japan, he said, has introduced ‘Specified Skilled Workers’ to address the severe labour shortages in the country by accepting foreign human resources with specific expertise and skills.

“India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in January 2021, to implement ‘Specified Skilled Worker’ between India and Japan,” he said.

According to the Skill Ministry data, he said, 18,532 individuals are employed in the construction sector overseas, 2,531 in facility management, and 2,410 in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing skills.

In addition, 1,607 individuals are working in the healthcare sector across various countries, he added.