The downside of India’s Economic growth

India has emerged as the 2^nd fast growing economy after China and has been at the forefront of emerging out of the recession at breakneck speed. The growth rate has jumped from 6.5 percent in 2009 to close to 9 percent this year. I just spoke yesterday about how Pay Packages are growing, the number of jobs available in the market is growing, FII is increasing like never before and even companies are hiring in hordes – The economy is in the log phase of growth. This is all great, but  too much growth also has its own downside.

The biggest advantage of too much growth could be the biggest downfall which could lead to de-growth. What a paradox, isn’t it?

Very high growth rates have the potential of creating around 10-15 million jobs across the country across sectors. Around 90% of these jobs would require skilled people at the forefront. And for that a lot of vocational training is required which requires cost.

But are there really so many skilled people?

Millions of candidates across the country graduate every year. But less than 2-3% of those are directly employable. What a sad ratio, isn’t it?

The growth over the next couple of years is expected to be the highest in the services sector industries like IT/ ITes, Biotechnology, Hospitality, HR etc. Since these sectors are continuously evolving and as the service sector pie in the GDP increases to more than 65%, the manpower required would have to be readily upgrade their skills on all fronts.

Sectors	Growth in %age as compare to the 2009	Share in %age
IT/ Enabled	31.9	40.3
Academics	85.5	12.4
Engineering	110.4	5.6
Insurance	19.9	5.0
Hospitality	38.2	3.3
Biotechnology	46.0	2.7
HR	16.7	2.5

India’s growth has always been attributed to its youth. But sadly it is this youth which is found lacking in the basic skills required to do their duties for everyday work.

What can be done?

There has always been stress on industry – academia interaction. But sadly it has become somewhat of a marketing tool used by all colleges to promote their brand. Instead of the interaction, probably organizations could designate certain colleges for starting courses related to their field. For eg: Future Group has some retail courses running in few colleges.

Perks, salary hikes, promotions etc. which have already started as the economy improves are an easier way of getting the right people for the job. Since a Nobel Prize winning study concludes that unemployment exists in a large amount because people are not willing to work rather than not getting work, this could be an important tool to motivate them.

Another big requirement is the thrust on vocational and skill based training – That is the need of the hour. Even if we are able to train one tenth of unskilled working population, it will make a huge positive impact on Economic growth.

There are opportunities galore for people in the country! It’s just that the right skilled workforce has to put their hands up!!