India will need around 76.5 million strong workforce in building, construction and real estate sector by 2022, says a report by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Out of the 24 sectors studied by NSDC, this sector will have the maximum incremental human resource requirement from 2013-2022.
The report also states that the construction sector is one of the largest seasonal employment providers in India next only to agriculture.
The construction sector is projected to grow to ₹11.95 billion by 2017, according to the report. It is the largest contributor to central exchequer and second largest employer in the country, and creates more than 45 million jobs either directly or indirectly.
Shortage of talent in the construction sector is a long-term problem and will continue to push up project costs and risks. The education and training capacity offered through various schemes currently are inadequate to meet the demand of the large percentage of unskilled workers in the Indian labour market. The education system is often not able to deliver the required number of specialists across project management, engineering, surveying, contract management and the skilled/semi-skilled labour, said the report.
Between 2000 and 2013, the sector attracted $40,399 million as foreign direct investment. It is expected to attract FDI of $180 billion by 2020. The sector grew at a CAGR of 9.42 per cent between 2003-04 and 2012-13. Capital investments in the sector is anticipated to rise from $651 billion in 2012-13 to $1181 billion in 2019-20.
In terms of employment, technicians/foremen have had the maximum growth of 95 per cent between 2005 and 2011 followed by unskilled workforce (34 per cent). The report highlights the fact that only a meagre 9.8 million construction workers of the total 32 million workers are registered in the country.
Tripura, Manipur and Lakshadweep are the States/UT that employ the highest number of registered workers in construction sector.
The findings also reconfirmed that over 97 per cent of individuals between 15 and 65 have no exposure to any training. So the imminent need is to expand the reach of training providers, set up models and institutes with the capability to scale.