After showcasing their talents to the world all these years, companies in India could face a huge ‘talent deficit’ in the coming years, says a report by Deloitte. According to the report, the reason for this scarcity is that the country is not producing enough people equipped with the right skills required for the globalized environment.

The ‘New India Manager’ report also states that new talent management model in companies will have to shift in their outlook. The report suggests that the paradigm of ‘scarcity of jobs’ should convert to ‘scarcity of talent’. “Unless a fundamental shift occurs in the educational system, it will continue to produce degree holders that will lack skills to operate in a corporate environment,” says Manish Agrawal, Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at Deloitte.

Agrawal has authored a study on the evolution of the Indian manager from the pre-liberalization period till now. The report states that globalization has helped Indian managers to develop their competencies and a global outlook that has unleashed a lot of creativity and innovation in the domestic industry. “However, not many managers in the country have the required soft skills such as communication abilities for operating in a global environment among others. We need to build such skill sets to enhance our talent pools,” Agrawal adds.

The Deloitte report states that it remains to be seen as to what extent the country would be able to enhance the competency level of its young population to make them employable. This is also a challenge, which the government would have to deal with in the years to come, it adds. According to Agrawal, if the shift is made now it will take 5-10 years to generate a good quantity of employable talent.