Tech freelancers are on a roll, specially those that are into new-age technologies. A severe shortage of these skills is also encouraging many full-time employees to become independent workers offering their expertise to multiple companies and earning much more than in their erstwhile positions.
A study by Manipal Global Education -one of India's largest education services groups -says that with 15 million independent workers, India is second only to the US (60 million) in terms of the number of freelancers. The study, shared exclusively with TOI, says there's been a boom of freelancers because of growth of internet and mobile phones.
The most common roles that freelancers are present in are data visualisation, data mining, digital marketing and social media, says A P Ramabhadran, CEO, professional learning unit, Manipal Global Education.
"Specific areas like Google digital marketing, data science, analytics, Android and iOS app development programs are witnessing a significant shift towards individuals choosing to be entrepreneurs and freelancers," he says.
Thammaiah B, India managing director at staffing solutions firm Kelly Services, says the technology transformation is helping the sector's gig economy to evolve to a level seen only in the US. "In India, the gig economy used to be an extrapolation of temporary and contract employees. However, that is changing with the innovation required at IT companies demanding newer skills. You cannot have a single homogeneous group of talent anymore in a team. And what you need may be only available when you go shopping for talent with very specific requirements," he says.
On Freelancer.com, one of the largest global online platforms where freelancers can offer their services, the number of registered people from India is the highest, at more than 20% of the total. The portal currently has around 5.3 million people from India, and 3.3 million from the US.
The top projects awarded to Indians on Freelancer.com over the past 12 months include graphic and website design, PHP (programming language), search engine optimisation and internet marketing.
The Manipal report says that despite taking up re-skilling at scale, leading IT firms are struggling to fill the newer technology roles.The report estimates that 65% of professionals in IT firms are struggling to upgrade their skills in the newer technologies. So they need external talent.
"Areas like fintech, health-tech, retail-tech, sales, and analytics are areas that are witnessing interest in hiring freelancers," says Ramabhadran.
The startup boom and the changing ethos with respect to job safety and security are also encouraging employees to take up more independent projects. "The workforce of the current generation is not looking at a safety net. They are willing to take risks to work only on the projects that they want. They are also looking at a balance between work and life," says Thammaiah of Kelly Services. He estimates that at large IT organisations, freelancers account for 2-3% of the workforce. He predicts this will grow rapidly in the next three-four years.
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