Auto companies in India are chasing tech talent like never before

Leading vehicle makers have been hiring tech talent like never before as they have set off on a massive digitisation drive to boost virtual sales and smoothen glitches in supply chain, procurement and manufacturing functions amid the pandemic.
Hiring of people trained in information and communication technology (ICT), data science, and data engineering in the automotive industry has increased by a whopping 45% compared with pre-Covid levels in 2019, data available with human resources services firm TeamLease Services shows.

“With an increasing number of consumers utilising digital platforms to evaluate and purchase vehicles in the last two years, automakers particularly have been working overtime to digitise operations and enable virtual sales, to enhance convenience and efficiency,” said Munira Loliwala, AVP (diversified engineering) at technology professional services platform TeamLease Digital.



Vehicle makers are also investing in digital transformation of their dealer network, which is not limited to improving websites or online payments but involves redesigning the entire purchase journey of the customer, and optimising costs and utilisation of resources at the dealer end, she said.

“This massive adoption of technology is having a ripple effect on the manpower requirement.”

Recruitment for tech roles in segments such as digital marketing, customer services and utilities, and preventive maintenance of vehicles are projected to increase by another 15% this financial year.

The current quarter has so far witnessed an open demand of over 18,000 tech jobs within the automotive segment, Loliwala said. “The same is expected to grow to over 25,000 jobs by the end of the fiscal year,” she said. “FY23 should see a further spike of 15-18% to this number.”

Top carmakers confirmed increased hiring of people with data analytics background in sales and marketing functions.

“In response to the consumer move towards digitisation, we started hyperlocal programmes for enquiry management,” said Shashank Srivastava, senior executive director (marketing and sales) at the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki.

“Today, 35% of our enquiries come in from digital channels, up from 3% a few years back. At times of lockdown, it was even higher at around 50%.” Maruti Suzuki has digitised 24 out of 26 touch points in the sales process, exceptions remaining only for test-drives and vehicle deliveries.

“We are working on strengthening our platform with digital tools with better computing power, collecting transactional and interactional data to create a single view of customer (SVOC), utilising AI to make sense of the data, and offer a seamless experience to our buyers,” Srivastava told ET. “With the use of these sophisticated digital tools, heavy weightage is given to data analytics while recruiting for CRM functions.”

Its closest rival Hyundai Motor India (HMIL), too, is investing in highly skilled workers in fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and supporting them with a futuristic learning framework.