The social gaps in India’s IT workforce

With technology shaping the future of work, all communities, including marginalised ones, should have equal access to emerging high-value roles.

The information technology (IT) industry is at the heart of global economic transformation, shaping industries, driving innovation and creating new career paths.

The demand for IT professionals continues to surge, creating both opportunities and challenges, as the industry evolves rapidly. Technology-driven fields, particularly in Artificial Intelligence (AI), are now shaping the future of work, presenting fresh opportunities for growth while simultaneously posing potential risks to existing employment structures.

One of the most striking aspects of the IT sector’s growth is the impact on employment patterns, especially among various communities. Here, we examine the current trends in IT-related occupations, highlight disparities among different communities and
critically assess the role of socio-economic factors in shaping access to these opportunities.

The employment landscape within IT and IT-related occupations has seen substantial growth over the past few years. According to the Period Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, employment in the IT sector surged 1.89 times between 2017-2018 and 2023-2024. This remarkable increase highlights the growing importance of technology-driven sectors in India’s overall economic modernisation.

The IT industry is a critical component of economic development, especially as businesses across the globe continue to digitise and automate various functions.

As the demand for IT professionals rises, there are emerging job opportunities in software development, data analysis, cybersecurity, cloud computing, AI research and more. This evolution in the nature of work has resulted in increasing recognition of IT as a sector capable of driving economic growth, providing high-paying, specialised jobs, and transforming other industries through technology adoption.

Socio-demographic distribution

While the rise in IT employment is encouraging, a closer look at the distribution of these opportunities reveals concerning inequalities. The share of different communities in IT employment, as presented by the PLFS data, reveals discrepancies in how various demographic groups are represented in the IT workforce.

To assess this more critically, we need to break down the data by community and analyse the trends from 2017-2018 to 2023-2024.

The representation of Scheduled Tribes (STs) in IT employment has decreased from 3.86% in 2017-2018 to 3.28% in 2023-2024, despite an increase in their overall share in total employment and population.

This decrease, especially in the IT sector, raises significant concerns. The persistent under-representation of STs in IT occupations likely stems from multiple factors. For one, there is a substantial digital divide in rural and tribal areas, where access to education, the Internet and digital literacy programmes is comparatively limited.

The lack of quality educational infrastructure, as well as barriers to accessing skill development resources,
may contribute to their exclusion from this rapidly growing field. In essence, while tribal communities are benefiting from an increase in total employment, they remain sidelined in high-skill sectors like IT.

Similarly, Scheduled Castes (SCs) have seen a notable decline in their share of IT employment, from 9.93% in 2017-2018 to 7.12% in 2023-2024. Despite maintaining a consistent share of almost 20% in total employment, their representation in the IT sector remains disproportionately low.

This suggests that while affirmative action policies have helped SCs gain access to broader employment opportunities, these communities still face significant barriers in accessing high-skill, high-paying roles within the IT industry. Limited access to quality education, insufficient mentorship programmes and biases in hiring practices likely contribute to this disparity.

The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have the largest share of IT employment, but their representation has slightly decreased from 41.36% in 2017-2018 to 40.51% in 2023-2024. While this group remains dominant in IT-related fields, this slight decline may indicate a shifting demographic in the IT workforce.

OBCs, being a heterogeneous group, have seen a broader representation in urban and semi-urban areas, where access to educational institutions and technology-related opportunities is more robust. However, the decreasing share could also point to the increasing involvement of more privileged communities in the IT sector, suggesting a potential widening of the socio-economic divide as more elite groups gain access to these opportunities.

The “Others” category, which consists of more privileged groups, has seen an increase in IT and IT-related employment from 44.85% to 49.09%, while the community’s share in total employment declined from 27.26% to 23.06%. The larger share of this community in IT & IT-related employment can be attributed to the fact that individuals in these communities may have greater access to resources, networks, and educational opportunities that facilitate entry into the IT sector.

Their higher share of IT employment reflects the concentration of technological and managerial expertise in these communities, contributing to the continued socio-economic divide in the digital economy.

The disparities in representation across different communities are indicative of a broader issue. Despite the rapid growth of the IT sector, historically marginalised communities, particularly STs and SCs, face systemic barriers that prevent them from accessing these opportunities.

The dominance of the “Others” category in IT occupations further highlights the socio-economic divide. Privileged groups often have access to better education, training resources and job networks, giving them a distinct advantage in securing high-skill roles in IT.

While employment in IT is growing, marginalised groups, including STs and SCs, remain under-represented in this high-skill sector. The disparities suggest that systemic barriers need to be addressed. Additionally, more inclusive hiring practices and affirmative action policies must be deployed to ensure that the IT sector becomes a true reflection of India’s diverse demographic landscape.

As the IT industry continues to grow, particularly in fields like AI, data science, and machine learning, there is a pressing need to ensure that all communities have equal access to these emerging high-value roles.

Without focused efforts, the digital economy risks becoming a further driver of socio-economic inequality. Only by addressing these disparities can we ensure that the benefits of the digital revolution are shared equitably across all communities in India.

(Palash is a Fellow at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi, and Wankhar is a retired Government of India officer. Views are personal)