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With the pandemic changing the job scenario and opening up newer avenues, upskilling has become a necessity, with a record high of 79 percent of professionals (including freshers) planning to upskill this year. Another 11 percent of respondents said they are considering the option.

According to a report by edtech company Great Learning, titled ‘Upskilling Outlook in India 2022’, the emergence of newer domains like Web 3.0, metaverse, NFTs, etc., has propelled this growth.

The report also showed that professionals from IT, banking, education and training, healthcare, and consulting sectors are most keen to upskill in 2022.

Meanwhile, data science, artificial intelligence (AI), and software development were the top domains for upskilling, with over 43 percent of the respondents expressing their intent in data-focused domains, such as data science, AI, machine learning, and analytics, it added.

Based on internal data from Great Learning, a survey was conducted by Pyxis with about 1,000 respondents from cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune. Respondents were from information technology (IT) and business process management (BPM), banking, education and training, and automobiles, among other industries.

Professionals from Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad showed the highest intent towards upskilling in 2021 and 2022, and among the bigger cities, people in Mumbai were the most invested in upskilling this year, followed by Delhi and Hyderabad.

However, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad remain the top-most cities when it comes to demand for tech and data domains, the report said.

In fact, with the rise of remote working and online hiring, Tier-II and III cities have shown a huge intent for upskilling, with Nagpur, Ernakulam, Mysore, Jaipur, and Indore topping the list of fastest-growing cities, it added.

The report found that both men and women showed an equal interest in upskilling this year. However, being busy with household chores and family responsibilities is a major hurdle towards learning for women as compared to men.

“Last year set new benchmarks when it came to online learning and upskilling in India and globally. It looks like this interest to learn is only going to sustain and grow in the coming year,” Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-founder, Great Learning, said.

The increasing traction and adoption of upskilling among smaller Indian cities is an indicator of how geographical barriers are being broken, he noted.

“From an employment perspective, there are still lakhs of unfilled vacancies due to the scarcity of skilled talent, and with most companies adopting digital transformation, the paths to grow for ‘skilled employees’ are unparalleled,” Nair added.