Growing number of GCCs in India driving demand for cross-functional skills: ASDC

With an increasing amount of software and electronics getting inside vehicles and transforming them into computers on wheels at an unprecedented pace, there is a growing demand for software development from automakers and component players alike.

As a result, India, which takes the crown as the software powerhouse of the world, is witnessing an accelerated growth in multinational automotive companies setting up their global competency centres or GCCs in the country. With its resources that are renowned to offer top-notch, speedy and frugal engineering services, India is poised to play a major role in the global transition to electric- and software-defined vehicles (SDVs). 

This growth in automotive GCC establishments in the country is also driving demand for more cross-functional skills, requiring engineers to have an application-based knowledge of software, electronics and mechantronics with respect to the automotive domain. This newfound need for cross-domain R&D skills in the automotive sector is pointed out by the Automotive Skills Development Council or ASDC. 

Speaking to Autocar Professional on the sidelines of ASDC’s annual conclave in New Delhi, Arindham Lahiri, CEO, ASDC, highlighted that the rising industry need for cross-functional skills could be directly connected to the current boom in GCCs in Indian cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, among others. While Tier-1 major ZF Lifetec recently opened its GCC in Hyderabad, Cummins India too opened its first centre in Pune earlier in July 2024.

“With the expansion of existing GCCs as well as the coming up of new GCCs in India, there is a need for multidisciplinary-trained engineers who have exposure to different areas related to vehicle technology. It is something that is usually missing in our current curriculum,” Lahiri said.

“That is where ASDC can play a significant role in enhancing and supplementing the existing curriculum and look at introducing new technologies in those engineering programmes,” Lahiri added while citing an example that ASDC has developed a short course around the basics of flex-fuel engines. “This would make the engineer coming fresh out of an engineering campus aware about the modern technologies in the automotive industry, before getting into a GCC,” he pointed out.

Lahiri also revealed that ASDC is working with newer partners to impart skills around software in automobiles. “With increasing software content in cars, there is a dearth of people who know both software and automobiles. We need to bridge that gap by offering courses that impart software knowledge in a mechanical engineering curriculum, or vice versa. Cross-discipline learning is vital in today’s age and that is where our focus is,” he said.

Shifting focus to engineering programmes

With areas such as VLSI (very large-scale integration), embedded technology, and software development, among others, in major demand from the automotive industry, ASDC is now shifting its focus towards some of these white-collared roles as well. 

“While students learn the fundamentals of engineering in colleges, it has always been an industry challenge that they lack application orientation, and that is where short-term skill development programmes will make a difference,” Lahiri said, while adding that ASDC has developed such skill development programmes that give freshers basic idea about the real-world application of their learnings in college.

“From so far being focused at sub-Diploma-level skill programmes, we are now moving slightly higher and focusing more on Degree and even Post-Graduate Diploma programmes for students. We have developed some courses and signed with around 20 engineering colleges,” he highlighted.

ASDC has partnered with Tier-2 colleges such as VIIT in Pune, Saveetha University in Tamil Nadu, and Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College in Coimbatore. “We are looking at the Tier-2 colleges for these short-term skilling programmes because the automotive industry is very aspirational for the students in these colleges, and if we can get them industry ready, they are likely to become more successful.”

“Colleges have also realised the need for these courses and thus, we are getting a very good response,” Lahiri signed off.