At a point when new job creation in India is at a standstill in most sectors, Data Science & Analytics is providing the silver lining. According to the Analytics and Data Science Jobs Study , the number of new job openings has increased by almost 76% from April 2017 to April 2018. The study has been conducted by Analytics India Magazine and Edvancer, one of India’s leading data science training institute. The report suggests that more than 90,000 job openings in data science & analytics are being advertised currently.

It also brings out the fact that India currently contributes about 10% of the open job openings for data scientists globally, making it the largest data science hub in the world outside the U.S. According to the report, some of the leading organisations with the most number of data science job openings this year are JPMorgan, Accenture, Microsoft, Adobe, Flipkart, AIG, Wipro, Deloitte, EY and Vodafone. Some of the top advertised job designations are analytics manager, data scientist, data analyst and analytics consultant, among others.

In terms of cities, Bengaluru accounts for the highest number of data science & analytics jobs, grabbing the lion’s share of 27%. In fact, this number has increased from the last year’s 25%. Other cities that follow closely are Delhi NCR and Mumbai. 14% of job openings were recorded in Tier-II cities due to an increase in the number of start-ups operating in these cities.

Banking and financial sector continues to be the biggest creator of data science & analytics jobs. 41% of all jobs posted for data science & analytics were from the banking sector. Other industries that follow are energy & utilities sector which has witnessed a significant increase over last year and the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, among others.

The study also suggests that almost 48% of data science & analytics job openings are looking for BE or BTech graduate degree holders. About 40% jobs also require a post-graduate degree. About 25% job openings require a relevant experience level of between 2-5 years whereas 37% jobs are for 0-2 years relevant experience, leaving a lot of scope for freshers.

Interestingly, recruiters are moving away from technology and tools-based recruiting to skills-based recruitment. However, from a technology perspective the demand for people with skills in Python is the highest at almost 39% of all advertised data science & analytics jobs. Skills in R come second at 25%.

The median salaries being offered by advertised data science jobs in India is ₹10.8 lakh per annum as almost 38% of jobs offer more than INR 10 lakhs/ annum, making it one of the highest paying fields.

Reports show interesting numbers in terms of data science jobs across company type. IT & KPO service providers (both domestic and MNC’s) saw a big uptick in the jobs requirements this year as they offer almost 42% of the jobs versus 33% last year. 41% of all data science & analytics demand is with Captive centres or GIC’s in India, though this is much lower than the 55% last year.

Bhasker Gupta, founder and CEO of Analytics India Magazine, said, “Analytics jobs scenario in India is constantly evolving. While there is a huge variation in the skills sets, experience and education requirement for these professionals across various cities and industries, there is a constant rise in the overall demand for analytics professionals with new jobs being posted each day.”

He added, “We also believe that gradually, there will be a need for more self-trained, data passionate people who will come to play a significant role in many organisations’ data science initiatives. Just as data science platforms and tools are proliferating, the data scientist’s pool will also grow with self-taught professionals.”

Aatash Shah, co-founder and CEO, Edvancer, said, “With Artificial Intelligence disrupting almost all industries, demand for skillsets in data science, machine learning and analytics are increasing at a very fast pace.”

He added, “Job creation in other sectors especially IT has slowed down and this makes it imperative for people to now re-skill themselves in emerging new technologies like data science and AI, which are set to revolutionize industries and jobs around the world, if they have to remain relevant to employers. The good news is re-skilling is now much easier with availability of high quality online training.”