India needs 4 million civil engineers by 2020: Report

Despite a projected demand of 95 billion sq ft in real estate and construction by 2020, the sector faces a likely manpower crisis. A research report 'Real Estate and Construction Professionals in India by 2020' by RICS ( Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) indicates a probable demand-supply gap of 44 million core professionals comprising civil engineers, architects and planners, by 2020.

The research has highlighted that as of 2011, the supply of professionals in built environment comprises nearly 50 million people, of which only 2 million are professionally qualified (across core and non core professionals). The remaining are mainly unskilled workers.

Built environment, comprising construction and real estate related activities, is one of the major contributors to the Indian economy, accounting for approximately 17.7% of GDP in 200910.

There is a demand-supply gap in the range of 82-86% in the core professions group comprising civil engineers, architects and planners. To deliver potential real estate space and planned infrastructure, India needs nearly 4 million civil engineers, 396,000 architects and 119,000 planners on an average, over the next decade. However the corresponding average supply available would only be 642,000 civil engineers, 65,000 architects and 18,000 planners.

A sustained period of shortfall in annual supply, coupled with an increasing year on year demand, could result in a cumulative demand of nearly 45 million core professionals, over 2010-20, with a cumulative demand-supply gap of approximately 44 million core professionals over the same period.

The estimated supply of non core professionals in the built environment sector is nearly 3 times the supply of core professionals. However without sector specific training, they fall short of the desired skill sets and need training.

The shortages are likely to lead to recruitment difficulties, increased cost of human resources, inability to complete tasks timely, skill gaps in domestic manpower and sub-standard quality of construction.

The report recommends that all stakeholders across government, academia and industry formulate remedial measures that help increase new supply and up-skilling of the existing workforce. The key action areas recommended for the government are improvement in regulatory framework and enabling policies, strengthening skill development effort and allocation of funds and incentivising skill development in critical areas.