Saudi Arabia-based serial entrepreneur Dr Ravi Pillai says he will continue to recruit up to 10,000 workers every month for executing a steady stream of contracts in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Dr Pillai is the founder Managing Director of the Nasser S. Al Hajri Corporation (NSH), a globally known industrial contracting house with major presence in the petrochemicals and power sectors.

VISAS AVAILABLE

Dr Pillai told Business Line that enough number of visas is there for the company's asking thanks not just because of the trust it enjoys with the Government but also the increasingly large numbers of locals on its rolls.

But what could possibly derail his implementation schedule of many of the ongoing projects is the lack of skilled workers.

Apart from India, the company has been recruiting from other Asian countries.

Within India, however, the major recruiting grounds have been Bihar and West Bengal, apart from Kerala.

But these numbers are fast dwindling with, for instance, the Bihar Chief Minister himself having gone on record saying that he would need skilled hands to stay back home and work on reshaping the local economy.

‘PLAN B' READY

A similar scenario is emerging in West Bengal as well. Dr Pillai said his company is now forced to recruit raw hands and put them under training at various work sites for up to six months, entailing substantial investment.

This has also prompted the ideation of what he calls a Plan B, a two-pronged strategy in which NSH has decided to set up its Indian operations ‘on invitation' by a petrochemical giant.

Alongside, Dr Pillai would also set up a training institute to groom skilled workers in batches to be wholly absorbed into NSH.

They would be deployed at various sites in GCC countries and those likely to come up within India after the domestic operations go on stream early next year.

MARQUEE CLIENTS

The NSH lists marquee clients such as Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Philips-Conoco, Hyundai, Chiyoda and Daelim and regional satraps such as Qatar Gas and RasGas, among others, on its list.

The company currently employs 60,000 persons at its various sites spread over West Asia, and is the largest employer of Indians in the region.

The average annual intake of fresh engineers is 1,500; the rest belong to the immediately lower skilled categories of welders, fitters and fabricators.

ECONOMIC BOOM

Dr Pillai said the Saudi Arabian economy has continued to boon, throwing up major business opportunities.

As of now, the Government has invested at least $100 billion in ongoing trade and infrastructure activities. The NSH is the main contract for a $12-billion aluminium smelter plant, its latest project.

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