Global professional services organisation EY on Thursday announced that it will hire 9,000 professionals in India in 2021 who have skills across Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and other emerging technologies.

With this, the company aims to expand its digital capabilities and help organisations solve their “complex end-to-end business transformation challenges”.

These hires will be from the STEM background and in areas including artificial intelligence, machine learning, cyber security, analytics and other emerging technologies.

“We are making bold investments in our organization particularly in technology, data and through strategic acquisitions while continuing to expand our alliance and ecosystem relationships,” Rohan Sachdev, Partner and Consulting Practice Leader, EY India.

“With the pace of digital adoption accelerating exponentially, we are strengthening capabilities in emerging technology roles and significantly intensifying our hiring efforts in the coming year”, he added.

EY in India has over 50,000 people working in all member firms including global delivery centres. Currently, 36 per cent of all EY India employees are from the STEM background, it said.

EY said it has a holistic approach to digital transformation and innovation embedded across all its service offerings and sectors, including several proprietary digital tools and solutions such as EY Asterisk (supply chain planning solutions) and EY Symphony (integrated governance, risk, controls and compliance platform).

Mahesh Makhija, Partner and Technology Consulting Leader, EY India, said, “We are using our sector knowledge to deliver tailored digital solutions and services to support our clients’ transformation plans and leveraging the managed services model to help them navigate the volatility.”

EY said it has launched the ‘EY Techathon 2021: #iSolve4aBillion Challenge’ aimed to engage the best technology minds in India.

The company is inviting university students from all disciplines to come forward and develop novel solutions to immunise Indians, considering the challenges of the country’s vast geography, demographics and infrastructure.