India’s Construction Industry has a specific skill gap, and it needs precision solutions

Much has been written and a lot has been done to address the Indian construction industry’s skill gap, yet there remains a significant chasm.

The Indian construction sector contributes almost a tenth of the country’s GDP and employs 5 crore plus people. It will have to play a foundational role in India’s quest to be USD 30 trillion dollar by 2047 ¹.  The journey is made even tougher by the unavailability of an aptly skilled workforce, both white collar and blue collar, meeting the needs of the industry.

There has been no dearth of effort though from both Government, quasi-Government and private bodies to bridge the gap.  The Construction Skill Development Council of India (CSDCI) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) are at the forefront of these efforts. They offer training programs aimed at enhancing the skills of the construction workforce, thereby improving employability and productivity.

While these do address the ‘long tail’ requirement of skilling however the problem facing the engineering workforce needs far more specific interventions to provide specialized skills across the spectrum of early, mid and late career professionals.

AACE International (Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering) has played a key role in addressing this skill gap across the world by advancing concepts of cost engineering and total cost management. AACE India is already creating a major impact in India with its partnerships and interventions.

In this journey, AACE India has joined forces with InCoBAN ecosystem, an organization working towards capacity building of the Indian construction industry. InCoBAN has been working with organizations across the country in upskilling their workforce through bespoke application oriented learning programs – focusing on practical, hands on training in simulated real world scenarios. This approach has not only helped enhance competence but also confidence and leadership abilities.

Through joint educational programs, knowledge sharing and curated events they will be providing precision solutions in making engineers industry ready through specialized skilling across:

Cost Engineering

Total Cost Management (TCM)

Planning & Scheduling

Decision & Risk Management

Earned Value Management

Managing and Controlling Projects, Programs, and Portfolios

Dispute Resolutions

Forensic Claim Analysis

Looking ahead, with India poised to become the world’s third largest construction market by 2025 – the demand of such specialized and specific interventions will grow manifold. Both AACE India and InCoBAN are committed to converting this challenge into an opportunity to ensure long-term economic benefit, sustainable growth and greater employability of the workforce.

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Sources

1. Vision India 2047: NITI Aayog