Construction sector to generate 75 mn jobs in India by 2022: report

Real estate and construction sector is expected to generate 75 million jobs by 2022 and emerge as the largest employer in the country, according to a report by KPMG India.

"Real estate and construction sector in India is expected to be the third-largest globally by 2030 contributing over 15 per cent to the Indian GDP and emerge as the largest employer in India providing employment opportunities to over 75 million people," KPMG said in a statement.

Real estate and construction sector in India is expected to be the third-largest globally by 2030, contributing over 15 per cent to Indian GDP, a background paper by consultancy firm KPMG in India and the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) said.

The paper bases its projections on the key programmes launched by the central government in the recent past to address the key challenges in urbanisation and the real estate sector, and throws light on the policy reforms undertaken by government to address these concerns.

"India's urban population is forecast to increase by about 40 per cent from 420 million in 2015 to over 580 million by 2030. The government has launched several large programmes such as Smart Cities, Housing for All, AMRUT, HRIDAY along with policy support Real Estate Act to accommodate such a vast population base," the paper said.

According to the paper, nearly 110 million houses would be required by 2022 alone in urban as well as rural India to provide housing to all citizens. This includes the current shortage of over 60 million houses, out of which around 20 million exist in urban areas.

"There are a number of solid infrastructure projects in the pipeline. These include 432 projects for roads, more than 400 projects in railways, 70 projects for the development of airports and 75 for the ports," the report said.

The paper attempts to analyse the construction development sector as a whole. The sector has attracted over $24 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) between 2000 and 2015.

"India will need to construct 43,000 houses every day until 2022 to achieve the vision of 'Housing for All' by 2022. The sector is expected to contribute 15 per cent to the Indian economy by 2030, become the largest employer by 2022 - employing about 75 million people or more than 13 per cent of the total estimated workforce of India, remain the largest contributor to the state exchequer and will consume almost a quarter of India's total electricity need by 2030," Neeraj Bansal, partner and head, Building, Construction and Real Estate Sector - KPMG in India.

According to the KPMG-NAREDCO report strict and prolonged regulatory processes leading to delays in project completion is one of the biggest hurdles the sector is facing. Also, there are numerous land-related issues with limited funding from banks, limited availability of long-term funding also posing tough times for growth on the real estate sector.

Lack of manpower coupled with the conventional usage of technology followed by the lack of stable and predictive tax regime, are also some of the core afflictions of the sector.