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S. Shanker

Mumbai, Nov. 9 The realty bubble may not have burst, but manpower shortage and increasing wage bills are set to belt projects’ schedules across the country.

Civil engineers are in demand and salaries have more than doubled. A fresher today commands Rs 17,000 a month in the southern markets, twice what was two years ago. One to two years experience calls for Rs 20,000–25,000 in places such as Mumbai. Project manager with a 10-year stint in the field rake in Rs 1.25-1.5 lakh monthly, says Mr Anant J. Gupta, Chairman, Builders Association of India, Mumbai centre. As for masons, the daily wage has shot up to Rs 300-400 against Rs 200 two years ago. Attrition rates are as high as 25-30 per cent as well.

Attracting talent has become harder despite Puravankara projects being in the premier league, says the Director, Mr Ravi Ramu. The Bangalore-based major employs about 600 engineers.

DLF probably blew the lid off this week by announcing plans for the homecoming of migrant Indian labour, besides indicating that they could be taken on its rolls. Almost all realty majors outsource their labour component.

A recent Prabhudas Lilladher report says DLF execution since inception was 224 million sqft and total current potential development 615 msqft (it has since bagged the new Bangalore City Bidadi project), Omaxe - 5.13 msft and 150 msqft, Puravankara 3.53 msqft and 106 msqft, Shobha Developers – 17.08 msqft and 33.01 msqft and IVRCL Prime- 2 msqft and 75.45 msqft, follow suit.

The Confederation of Indian Industry’s Task Force Chairman, Mr B. Santhanam, said “Many major projects and capex programmes are getting delayed between 18 months and 24 months in major industrial belts across the country.” Infrastructure budget spend on construction is about 45 per cent. "The acute shortage is apparently felt more in integrated townships and residential area because of the spread of the work in these projects,” said Dr B.P. Dhaka, spokesperson of Parsvnath Developers.

Consolidated Construction Consortium Ltd has started a training facility to build up a resource bank. Its MD, Mr S. Sivaramakrishnan, said the realty boom had fuelled demand for skilled labour.

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