India must double annual EV workforce to 30,000 to achieve full localization by 2030: Study

India needs to increase its annual addition of EV-ready workers from 15,000 to 30,000 to achieve full localization of EV components by 2030, as per the study by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. SIAM's 'EV Skill Gap Study', which was released on Tuesday, stated direct job creation due to the advent of EVs is expected to be around 2,00,000 jobs (excluding shop floor and contractual) and a total talent investment of Rs 13,552 crore is expected for hiring and training the workforce.

Indian automotive industry will need up to two lakh skilled people by 2030 to meet the government's vision of 30 per cent electric vehicle adoption.

"India needs to add 30,000 EV-ready workers per year till 2030 to achieve 100 per localization of EV components. Currently, India adds 15,000 EV workers per year, which means this needs to be doubled to meet the 2030 vision," the report mentioned.

The report was released by Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel, HD Kumaraswamy, on the sideline of a SIAM-organised workshop.

The report pointed out that 43 per cent of the technical competencies between Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and EV have minimal overlap and therefore would require fresh skilling of talent.

On the other hand, 27 per cent of technical competencies have a high overlap between ICE and EV and may require re-skilling of existing talent.

"The estimated hiring cost would be Rs 7,671 crore, while the training cost would be around Rs 5,881 crore. The total talent investment is expected to be around Rs 13,552 crore," the report said.

The report mentioned that India would require 60 Automotive R&D centers by 2030.

The report highlighted that only 57.44 per cent of B.E. and B Tech graduates are employable. Even less for EV and digital.

The reports recommended curriculum revision across 15 competencies in India Collective faculty shortfall of 38 percent across top Engineering Institutes High quality EV educators prefer working in industry than in education.