India will need 70 lakh project managers in next 10 yrs: Report

The Dollar Business Bureau 

India would be the world’s fastest growing country for project management related employment and this profession is expected to outperform overall global job growth in the coming decade, generating millions of new jobs in India, with highly-competitive pay, a report revealed. 

“India will require 70 lakh new project managers in next 10 years. It will emerge as the fastest growing country in the world for project management-oriented employment,” a report on Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017-2027 by Project Management Institute (PMI) said.

The expansion in major sectors such as manufacturing, construction, publishing, technology, information services, and finance and insurance, will drive the growth in project management-oriented professions, it added. 

The report is the third such assessment on project management profession and industry activities conducted by Anderson Economic Group (AEG) for PMI in several countries including India, Australia, Brazil, China, Canada, Germany, Japan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the US. 

According to the report, India will have 218 lakh project management-oriented jobs by 2027, the second-largest number in the world, behind China with 460 lakh jobs. 

Raj Kalady, Country Director, PMI India said, “India will need 70 lakh skilled project managers in the next 10 years in order to avoid delays and escalation of budgets in projects in key industries like roads, railways, IT and manufacturing.” 

"These areas will witness huge investments along with important schemes such as Smart Cities and Digital India ,” he said. 

The outlook of project management jobs continued to outperform the entire job market due to growth as well as attrition, the report said.

However, the shortage of potential talent puts at risk around $208 billion in GDP of the assessed 11 countries from 2017-2027 and nearly $23.4 billion, 11% of that amount, from India is at risk, the report said.