Despite talent crisis, number of blockchain startups reach 3K in India

Blockchain technology, despite challenges and doubts around what it really is and its potential, has seen a rise in use cases in the last few years in India. The technology has been witnessing use cases in private and public sectors such as land registry, banking, digital certificates, and farm insurance.

Consequently, it has emerged as one of the most popular skills among tech startups with the highest demand.

Blockchain in primarily a digital record of transactions maintained and validated by a network of computers via a cryptographic audit trail.

According to research firm Gartner, the market opportunity for blockchain to exceed $3.1 trillion by 2030. Due to its high demand and future potential, there have been new courses related to the technology are being offered.

And the platforms offering these courses are registering significant growth. Coursera, which offers six blockchain courses, claims to have witnessed over 50% growth in a year.

On the Job front, Blockchain promises growth of over 2000%. Blockchain developers get around 100% more salaries than regular developers. As per recruiting firm TeamLease, only 5,000 of the 2 million software developers currently have the right blockchain skills.

In the last decade, India has seen the emergence of over 3,000 blockchain startups, as per a report of Business Standard. And in coming years, the numbers might grow even bigger as big firms in the country are increasingly identifying the blockchain opportunity.

To gain an early advantage in emerging tech, Mukesh Ambani-led RIL had acquired a 5.56 per cent stake in blockchain startup VAKT Holdings Ltd (VHL) for $5 million. It plans to speed up the company’s digital ride through active participation in emerging and evolving blockchain enabled solution for energy markets.

Last year, India's central bank Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had acknowledged blockchain potential and said that it has far-reaching implications for the financial sector. State Bank of India (SBI) had also said to use blockchain technology in its reconciliation, remittances, and trade finance operations from next fiscal year.

In January, a consortium of eleven major banks teamed up to start India’s first blockchain-linked funding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Over 14 states state governments including Telangana, Maharashtra, and UP have already initiated pilots and projects in over 30 blockchain use cases.

Looking at its potential, many big firms such as JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba are experimenting with it.

As per Nasscom study, there is a huge need for rapid invest in talent development, IP, asset creation as service providers are currently addressing only 2 per cent of the global blockchain demand.