Blockchain Education Picks up Pace in India
In today’s competitive and uncertain employment market, everyone is looking for new skills and expertise that will help them land a good position quickly. In recent months, interest in blockchain technology has risen rapidly.
Premier Indian Institutions Introduce Blockchain Curriculum
India’s top universities are seeing increased demand for custom blockchain courses as education institutions ramp up services for the booming industry. It is a ground-breaking technology that powers digital cryptocurrencies.
Because of the blockchain industry’s rapid growth, interest in customized blockchain courses is skyrocketing in India’s leading institutions. Full-time students and the general public can find a wide range of courses on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency trading on public platforms.
In her recent budget statement, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would be implementing the nation’s own central bank digital currency (CBDC) this year while imposing a 30% tax on crypto transactions. There are still many job prospects for blockchain professionals in both the public and private sectors as the country’s legal and regulatory framework continues to evolve.
Anuj Kapoor, assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), told Forkast in an email that the RBI’s digital rupee deployment will raise the acceptance of Cryptocurrencies by the masses, accelerating general adoption and improving crypto literacy in India. According to the Institute for International Management and Administration (IIMA), Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will be an essential topic among new students.
IIT Kharagpur (IIT-KGP), one of India’s oldest and most prestigious technical universities, is now offering a free 12-week online course on blockchain. Sandip Chakraborty, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at IIT-KGP, believes that learning any new technology at its height is advantageous.
Chakraborty believes that interest among professionals and recruiters will continue for the next few years, especially in a country identical to India, which is trying to develop new technologies and systems with the help of blockchain.
“In four to six years, we will have experienced and academically trained blockchain engineers, which as of today we lack because this is a very new technology and engineers have not got this in their academics,” Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO of Indian crypto exchange Unocoin, told Forkast. Vishwanath claims to have noticed a boom among colleges offering blockchain courses starting roughly three years ago.
Many traditional investors are eager to diversify into digital assets, fearing they will be left behind as public and private colleges introduce blockchain technology courses into their primary curricula.
Although such courses will help students catch up and participate in the ecosystem in the following years, they may not find all of the opportunities in India.
Speaking on the matter, Pradeep Gooptu, a financial markets expert, told Forkast:
“We must also keep in mind that the Indian market in cryptocurrencies is fractured. It’s not perfect. It’s perhaps a little behind the rest of the world, and therefore for students to find all the opportunities may not be possible in India. But I am sure this is only a short-term problem and in the next few years things will open up and cryptocurrencies will become a major exchange platform in India as it is elsewhere in the world.”
According to experts, there is a skill gap in India compared to the number of job opportunities. Hence, it is believed that the growing demand for blockchain courses offered by various institutions and universities will assist fill this gap.
Demand for Blockchain Professionals Surge
Jobs in the blockchain field are increasing at a rate of 2,000 to 6,000%, making it one of the fastest-growing skill sets in the IT industry. It has resulted in blockchain developers getting paid 50 to 100% more than their conventional counterparts.
On LinkedIn India, there are more than 11,000 blockchain jobs advertised by recruiters, of which 144 are new ads. In India, the leading employment portal naukri.com has over 110,629 job posts for blockchain developers from companies like IBM, Capgemini, and E&Y. In addition to this, Monster.com‘s 700 listings for blockchain developers and cryptocurrency product managers in India, banking behemoth JPMorgan is looking to hire in the country.
There is a growing need for blockchain technology experts in various fields, from banking and legal to management and leadership.
The increasing number of blockchain-related courses available online and at some of India’s most prestigious universities is a pointer to increasing trust in the technology’s power to change the world. Both the employment market and education programs are beginning to recognize the value of blockchain technology as a solution to real-world issues.