Statiq’s Public Policy team has came up with a white paper on Skill Development in the Indian EV Sector. It has covered a vast amount of research in the automotive sector: employment potential, the importance of skill development, current initiatives in India, organisation and institute-level initiatives, and global context in skill development.
This paper not only covers the importance of being skilled in the industry but also maps out current initiatives in India with respect to skilling and deep dives into some global practices being followed from which our country can learn.
According to the Invest India 2022 research mentioned in the report, the automotive sector employs approximately 37 million people. In the coming 10 years, the industry can add more than 10 million direct jobs, creating 50 million indirect jobs. In a price-sensitive market like India, for EVs to capture the masses requires a major reduction in their upfront cost. Today a typical electric vehicle costs 40-50 per cent higher than its petrol/diesel counterpart.
The day this upfront cost gets reduced, electric vehicles are going to become the new favourite in the Indian markets. Earlier, the readiness of charging infrastructure was also a major concern amongst people. However, today a robust and reliable charging infrastructure is already developed to cater to a much bigger number of electric vehicles than are currently present on roads.
Sanjana Chhabra, Manager, Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations, Statiq author of the report said, “In order to effectively skill the workforce and make them ready for the tech-savvy EV industry, a collaboration between the education sector and the EV sector is a must. The EV transition across the world is giving rise to a technological transformation that requires both reskilling and training existing and new workers. The education sector through its validated techniques & curriculum will ensure a smooth and effective skilling process in the sector which will play an important role in not only overcoming layoffs and job losses but will also contribute towards a sustainable EV industry in the long-term leading to fiscal growth.”
“Moreover, the Union Finance Minister of India made an outstanding announcement in the 2023-24 budget session to accelerate the growth of the EV sector in India, with custom duty on lithium and ion batteries to be slashed from 21% to 13%,” she added.
Currently, the EV sector is facing challenges like niche skills, growth potential, course curriculum, women’s participation, and industry standards. There is a need to solve these challenges for a smooth and sustainable transition and only through the advancement of the workforce, our country can become EV-ready.
Ananya Kundra, Intern, Policy Advocacy Team, Statiq author of the report said: “One major problem that the industry is facing right now is the incomplete supply chain from minerals procurement to battery production. One way to address this concern is to strengthen the collaboration between R&D institutions and industry within the country, which is currently weak. Another method is to regularly monitor the promising new developments in R&D, worldwide and within India, in the EV battery space. Also, Research & Development is a very capital-intensive process, thus in order to push for extensive R&D it will require strong financial support from the government. Therefore, some incentives and subsidies should be introduced by the government to promote such developments in the industry.”
A lot of organizations like ISIE, Skill Lyc, Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC), Electric One, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), and Mercedes-Benz are also introducing great initiatives like courses and training to encourage skilling, upskilling, and reskilling of professionals in the industry. Moreover, institutes like IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bombay, and ESDC (Electric Vehicles Skill Development Centre) are making great contributions in the same direction.
