Sectors such as construction and real estate, beauty and wellness, organised retail, transport and logistics hold the maximum job potential in India in the near future, according to a report. The Assocham-Thought Arbitrage Research Institute Paper noted that the country's information technology and IT-enabled services sector may add at best one million jobs in the next five years.
"The IT and ITeS, which is under pressure at present, in any case, was to expand at lesser pace in job creation. On the employment base of 3.3 million in 2013, the much-touted sector had an incremental human resource requirement of 2.2 million by 2022, of which about one million have been added in the last 3-4 years," the report pointed out.
It observed that the IT and ITeS is going through fresh challenges of technology upgradation, automation, visa restrictions in the US and increasing skill gaps. "Thus, as a country which requires at least 15-20 million jobs a year, we need to look quite broader and at those areas which expand not only in the export market but also within the country," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.
Mapping the job potential, the paper found that on the employment base of 45.4 million in 2013, the building, construction and real estate (including infrastructure) would require 31.1 million incremental human resources. "The sector has been the worst-hit because of multiple factors including high level debts and non-performing assets, delays in delivery of housing projects, and environmental and regulatory hurdles. We need to get these issues out of the way in a manner that it becomes a robust engine of job creation and economic growth," Rawat said.
Likewise, organised retail can create incremental level of at least 10-12 million new jobs in the next five years.