Manpower scarcity mars Haryana SME sector

Manufacturing industries in Harayana are facing a severe shortage of skilled manpower. Revival of economy after the global financial meltdown has generated plethora of opporunities for the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in the region but the entreprenuers are struggling for the right manpower.

Talking to Business Standard, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Satish Gupta said, “We get very good response for the vacancy of degree holders but there is a dearth of diploma and certificate holders.”

The job of a junior supervisor cannot be assigned to an engineer even if he is ready to pursue, he added.

Senior vice-president Rajneesh Garg said an engineer needs a team of junior engineers to execute the operation. Normally the ratio is 25 diploma or certificate holders to one degree holder, but the situation is dismal.

An overview of the situation across the state reflects that the quality manpower is not available. Those trained in government polytechniques and ITIs (Industrial Traning Institutes) are taught traditional skill-sets that does not match the requirement of the state-of-the-art numerically conrolled machines.

A senior official in the Department of Industrial Training Education, Haryana, said the governemnt needs a synergy with industry to upgrade its curriculam. He added that the corporate sector should come forward with proposals to revise the courses.

The market study revealed that the big players offer in-house training to the new recruits at their own expense. It is only the small layers who suffer because they do not have resources to allocate for in-house training.

So, machines in many small units in the region are lying vacant due to non-availability of trained hands to run the show.