Insight of the Indian job market in Power, Infrastructure and Rail industry

India's growing economy creates demand for highly skilled workers.  This positive trend is mostly due to the continued influx of foreign direct investment under the government’s “Make in India” campaign (a programme focusing on 25 sectors including, automotive, aviation, chemicals, IT, construction, manufacturing, mining, railways, renewable energy, roads and highways). As India’s importance in world economy increases, work experience in this country will most likely become increasingly profitable. TRS shares an insight on the popular sectors, India job market, forecast and the top projects within those sectors.

Sustained economic growth continues to drive electricity demand in India. The Government of India has been focusing on ‘Power for all’ and how to develop it more environmentally friendly by using renewable sources. India continued to be the fifth largest annual market globally. More than that, India is right behind China, the United States and Germany, who are leading the globe’s wind power boom.

Power

Demand for electricity is expected to increase over the forecast period, due to industrialization, urbanization, population growth and per capita energy consumption. The country is trying to rely less on the energy, hence the government is aiming to develop its own energy consumption. To reduce the country's reliance on imported energy, the government is developing its renewable energy infrastructure (Source: prnewswire.com). India’s power sector is one of the most diverse in the world. Sources of power generation range from conventional sources to viable non-conventional sources. Electricity demand in the country has increased rapidly and is expected to rise further in the years to come.

Some major investments and developments in the Indian power sector are as follows:

• EDF plans to invest US$ 2 billion in renewable energy projects in India;
• Sun Edison plans to continue its focus on ‘Make in India’ by further reducing the cost of renewable energy and developing over 15 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar projects in the country by 2022;
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) plans to launch an integrated bio energy mission investment from FY 2017-18 to FY 2021-22 (Source: ibef.org).

Infrastructure

The Infrastructure Sector is a key driver for the Indian Economy. The road sector profits from the Government’s efforts and initiated policies to ensure time-bound creation of world class infrastructure in the country is key to the increase in construction. The Construction Industry in India is the second largest after agriculture. It accounts for approx.  11% of India as GDP and contributes to the national economy also by providing employment to a large number of people. 

The Construction Industry in India is highly fragmented. There are mainly three segments in the construction industry in India including Real Estate Construction which includes residential and commercial construction; Infrastructure Building which includes roads, railway, power etc.; and Industrial Construction that consists of oil and gas refineries, pipelines, and textiles.

The country is getting more and more interest within infrastructure industry from international investors. Many Spanish companies are keen on collaborating with India on infrastructure, high speed trains, renewable energy and developing smart cities.

Some major investments in infrastructure:

• Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor ($90 billion);
• Gujarat International Finance Tec-City ($20 billion). The smart city is expected to complete by 2018;
• Navi Mumbai International Airport ($2.4 billion). The project is expected to complete in 2019.

Rail

India's railway network is recognised as one of the largest railway systems in the world under single management. The main focus of the investment in 2017 is on improving tracks, bridges, signalling, rolling stock and stations throughout the country. In addition, 700km of new railway tracks are to be added to the network to link some of India's more remote regions with the rest of the country, making it one of the biggest investments in India's long history of railway transport (Source: smartrailworld.com).

Lucknow Metro is a mass rapid transit system being constructed to provide the city of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, an environment friendly and alternative means of transport. The Lucknow Metro project is the most expensive mass rapid transit system in Uttar Pradesh and the fastest high speed rapid metro project in India. According to Indian Express, first phase of Lucknow Metro is expected to be open to public on 26th March this year. The Lucknow metro system includes two corridors, which are the north-south and the east-west corridor. The north-south corridor is scheduled to start operations in early 2018, while the second corridor is expected to start operations by early 2019 (Source: Railway Technology).

UK Government has announced new metro projects for different locations in India. Here are the top five projects, presenting the most 'immediate and accessible opportunities' for UK companies. These are: Mumbai Metro Line 3, Ahmedabad Metro Phase 1, Nagpur Metro, Lucknow Metro and Navi Mumbai Metro Phase 1. The total budget for these projects is approximately £6.3 billion.

Forecast:

India needs Rs 31 trillion (US$ 454.83 billion) to be spent on infrastructure development over the next five years, with 70% of funds needed for power, roads and urban infrastructure segments. By 2019, solar power is expected to be cheaper than imported coal-based power (Source: climatepolicyinitiative.org).

The Government of India has supported several projects and is expected to provide significant boost to the Indian infrastructure sector. Along with that, the Indian aviation market is expected to become the third largest across the globe by 2020, according to industry estimates. The Indian Aviation Industry, which currently accounts for 1.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), has been instrumental in the overall economic development of the country. Given the huge gap between potential and current air travel penetration in India, the prospects and possibilities of growth of Indian aviation market are enormous.

Government support

The Government of India has identified the power sector as a key sector of focus so as to promote sustained industrial growth (Source: ibef.org). The Government of India is taking every possible initiative to boost the infrastructure sector.

Large number of new metro projects has been announced for various cities in India. Minister of Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping, has announced the government’s target of Rs 25 trillion (US$ 376.53 billion) investment in infrastructure over a period of three years, which will include Rs 8 trillion (US$ 120.49 billion) for developing 27 industrial clusters and an additional Rs 5 trillion (US$ 75.30 billion) for road, railway and port connectivity projects (Source: ibef.org). The Government of India has focused on investing on railway infrastructure by making investor-friendly policies. It has moved quickly to enable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in railways to improve infrastructure for freight and high-speed trains.

If you’re an engineer looking for a fresh opportunity in rail, power or infrastructure, look no further than TRS Staffing Solutions. Our team will be happy to discuss your recruitment needs and answer any queries you may have about the job market.

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