New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS): With the rise of remote working and online hiring, small-towns have jumped on the bandwagon and Nagpur, Ernakulam, Mysore, Jaipur and Indore now shine as the fastest-growing cities for upskilling courses, according to a new report.

While professionals from top metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad showed the highest intent to upskill in 2021 and 2022, tier 2 cities are now the hotspots for upskilling courses.

IT, banking, education and training, healthcare and consulting are the top five industry backgrounds amongst professionals who want to upskill this year, reports edtech platform Great Learning.

"The increasing traction and adoption of upskilling amongst smaller Indian cities is an indicator of how geographical barriers are being broken," said commenting on the report, Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-founder, Great Learning.

Nearly 79 per cent professionals among those surveyed are looking to upskill in 2022, surpassing 2021 levels.

"Data science, artificial intelligence and software development are the most preferred domains and 62 per cent people feel that going back to the office won't affect their plan to upskill," the findings showed.

As jobs in newer domains soared high in 2021, more than 70 per cent of people chose to upskill to grab new opportunities.

An even higher intent towards upskilling is being seen in 2022 with the emergence of newer domains like web 3.0, metaverse, NFTs etc. 79 per cent people still plan to upskill in 2022 with another 11 per cent people on the fence.A

Even though the intent to upskill is equal among men and women, 81 per cent of the women cited being busy with family and household work as a barrier in upskilling, the findings showed.