India will need around 76.5 million strong workforce in it’s booming building, construction and real estate sector. Out of the 24 sectors studied by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), this sector will have the maximum incremental human resource requirement from 2013-2022.

According to the findings of the report by NSDC, the demand of skilled employment in the sector arises due to demand for affordable housing which is expected to increase to 38 million from 29 million (present) by 2030, rapid growth in IT and financial services into Tier-II and Tier-III cities, investments in key infrastructure segments’ including power, road, railways, ports and civil aviation is expected to reach $1 trillion during the 12th Plan period, demand for warehousing space (ambient and cold chain) in the country in major Tier-I and Tier-II cities is expected to surge as industrial parks are being setup and food trends are shifting towards more processed food.

“There is a huge need that the industry has to cater to. We need manpower, proficient with excellent skills on technical abilities. The industry and the government need to pay a special focus on this segment of workforce,” said Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, NSDC.

“Over the last 5 years, under NSDC, more than 5 million (cumulatively) have been skilled and more than 15,376,57 (cumulatively) placed,” he further added.

The report also states that the construction sector is one of the largest seasonal employment providers in India next only to agriculture and is also highly unorganised, principle industry employing short duration out-migrant. It also states that of the total estimated 15.2 million short duration out-migrants, more than 36.2 per cent are employed in the construction industry alone and more than 80 per cent of the employment in building and construction sector is minimally skilled workforce.

The construction sector is the largest contributor to central exchequer and second largest employer in the country. It creates more than 45 million jobs either directly or indirectly among various classes of individuals in the country.

Shortage of talent in the construction centre 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 delivering the required number of specialists across project management, engineering, surveying, contract management and the skilled/semi-skilled labour. It is imperative that the industry and the government.

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 NSSO 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.