“Currently, we are witnessing demand for 1,000-1,500 after-sales personnel across technician and support roles every month, mainly with the intent of training freshers as well as upskilling young joiners from the informal sector,” said Sumit Kumar, chief strategy officer, Teamlease. As per estimates, the after-sales services market has been growing by 20-25% since 2020, even as large tracts of the market remain unorganised. The organised market tends to prioritise candidates with technical skills and expertise in mobile repair, troubleshooting, and customer service, Teamlease said.
“Companies may decide to hire freshers for entry-level positions such as customer support representatives. They may also hire freshers for technician trainees or individuals with minimal experience,” Kumar said.
“Established industry players are increasingly embracing apprenticeship initiatives aimed at cultivating a skilled workforce. These programmes offer courses such as service engineer IT hardware, repair technician, wireman control panel electronics, and electronics mechanic, targeting students who have completed 8th or 10th grade for entry into the field,” he added.
Aside from authorised service centres, the industry is also seeing a surge in the unorganised sector where skilled individuals are being trained to repair devices, especially those out of warranty.
Samsung, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi did not respond to ET’s emailed queries.
Counterpoint Research said the surge in demand for after-sales service technicians is fuelled by India’s growing appetite for premium handsets that are far more complicated to repair. “There is a direct trend among brands who are targeting more premium customers to expand their after-sales services – be it doorstep repair, reaching more pin codes and handling customer support through apps,” said Tarun Pathak, research director, Counterpoint Research.
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