Illustration: Binay Sinha
High salary expectations are holding back recruitment of artificial intelligence (AI) talent in India, particularly for 132 companies in the technology, finance and manufacturing sectors, according to a survey by US-based payroll firm Deel. The Economic Times.
The company’s Asia-Pacific general manager Mark Samlal was quoted by the report as saying that while demand for AI expertise is increasing, finding candidates with the right skill set remains a major challenge.
Samlal said that according to data from a recent survey by Deel in collaboration with Rakuten, 66 percent, or 165 of the 250 organizations surveyed, indicated that high salary expectations were a major barrier to attracting talent in the AI field. He further mentioned that 132 of these companies, representing 80 percent, were recruiting exclusively in India in the technology, finance and manufacturing sectors.
Additionally, the company noted that 88 percent of organizations surveyed are open to global hiring. More than half of HR professionals said they use six or more technology tools to manage their companies’ HR needs. Deel facilitates hiring and payment processes for companies that employ international workers and contractors.
Last month, Deel published an analysis of payroll data that revealed notable trends in the financial habits of Indian workers, including an 11 percent increase in dollar withdrawals from contractors since May 2023.
Globally, there has been an increase in demand for payments in US dollars, particularly among contractors in countries such as Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Georgia and India, according to Samlal.
He explained that the rise in dollar withdrawals by contractors in India could be attributed to favourable exchange rates, which allow them to optimise their earnings. In addition, India’s growing middle class and the younger, more adventurous generation, many of whom travel to the US, have contributed to India being the fifth-largest source of tourists to the country.
Meanwhile, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Critical Technology Tracker report released on Thursday highlighted that India is now a major player in the AI sector, ranking just behind the US and China in several areas including advanced data analytics, AI algorithms, hardware accelerators, machine learning, integrated circuit design and manufacturing, natural language processing and adversarial AI.
The report concluded that this represents a significant improvement compared to the 2003-2007 period, during which India was among the top five countries in only four technologies.
First published: August 30, 2024 | 11:00 am IS
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