Labour pains, the silent crisis undermining India's infrastructure boom

Severe skilled, unskilled shortage threatens to pull emergency brake on India's industrial engine

For an ambitious India Inc aiming to leap forward, an acute shortage of workers — both skilled and unskilled — is threatening to hold it back.

Recently, India’s largest engineering and construction firm, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), flagged a shortage of 25,000-30,000 labourers. The ‘sit up and take note’ comment from Group Chairman S N Subrahmanyan comes at a time when L&T’s clients are accelerating project execution, making the gap more noticeable than ever before.

The talent shortage or skills gap has been a persistent issue in the industry. A marathon general election and extreme heat have