Only 57.44% of B.E. and B.Tech. graduates in India are employable in the automotive industry, according to a study by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), which recommended curriculum revisions in colleges.
‘SIAM EV Talent Landscape in India’ report which was released on Tuesday, mentioned that there is a 38% collective shortfall of faculty in top Engineering institutes as high-quality EV educators prefer working in the industry than in Education.
Indian automotive industry will need up to 2 lakh skilled people by 2030 to meet the government’s vision of 30% electric vehicle adoption, as per the report. The report was released by Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel, HD Kumaraswamy, on the sidelines of an SIAM-organised workshop.
A total talent investment of INR 13,552 crore is expected for hiring and training the workforce.
“Only 57.44% of B.E. and B.Tech. graduates are employable. Even less for EV and digital. There is a need to skill, reskill and upskill. It is recommended to do curriculum revision across 15 competencies in India,” the report noted.
A set of 40 technical competencies which would be crucial for realising the goal of 30% Electric Vehicle by 2030.
“The competencies are in the functional areas of EV Battery, Powertrain, Regen and EV After-sales,” the report said.
Around 13 out of 40 competencies need to be introduced into curriculums of professional training programs across different levels of credentials, such as certificate, diplomas and degree
The report pointed out that 43% of the technical competencies between Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and EV have minimal overlap and therefore would require fresh skilling of talent.
On the other hand, 27% of technical competencies have a high overlap between ICE and EV and may require re-skilling of existing talent.
The report noted that the “collective faculty shortfall is 38% across top Engineering institutes.”
The report also stated that around 127 million learning hours are required to train fresh talent as well as to re-skill existing talent in the automotive sector.
India needs to increase its annual addition of EV-ready workers from 15,000 to 30,000 to achieve full localization of EV components by 2030, as per the study.
