To be sure, the services sector, including IT and non-IT industries, continues to do the heavy lifting, accounting for the greater number of jobs created in India. Growth in the manufacturing industry has picked up pace, mostly in the last two years, with the introduction of production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes and as companies increase manpower amid capacity expansion plans. Meanwhile, the tech industry has been hit by global economic uncertainty.
The year-on-year growth in the number of direct jobs in manufacturing has taken off from a trough of -27% in 2021 (total 29.83 million jobs) to 5.8% in 2022 (31.57 million jobs), 12.9% in 2023 (35.65 million jobs) and a projected 18.4% (42.2 million jobs) in 2024, according to the data. In contrast, the services sector has slowed, with growth rates dropping from 49.9% in 2021 (21.75 million jobs) to 35.5% in 2022 (29.48 million jobs), 27.5% in 2023 (37.6 million jobs) and an estimated 23.1% growth rate in 2024 (46.3 million jobs estimated).
The manufacturing sectors that the analysis covers include automobile, electronics, infrastructure, construction, textiles and engineering.
“Manufacturing (job creation) has to be much larger,” said Anish Shah, group CEO and MD, Mahindra Group.
Capex Focus
With the government’s Viksit Bharat goals, “manufacturing has to be multiples of where it is today in terms of job creation”, said Mahindra’s Shah.
“As India becomes the manufacturing hub for the world, which is where you would like it to be with the government’s Make in India goal, that’s what is going to drive a much greater focus on manufacturing.”
Teamlease data indicates that manufacturing is projected to generate 6.5 million jobs in 2024, with an estimated growth rate of 18.4%.
“Government initiatives are leading to many domestic and foreign enterprises establishing production facilities. The expanding domestic market, propelled by a burgeoning middle class with increased disposable income, generates significant demand for high-quality manufactured goods,” said Sumit Kumar, chief strategy officer, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship. “Additionally, ELI (employment-linked incentive) schemes (with a Rs 10,000 crore budget allocation) may generate another 8 million jobs in the next three years. The programme aims to skill 10 million youths over the next five years.”
More needs to be done to boost manufacturing jobs, said top executives.
“Besides expansion in capacity, we will need horizontal growth in new facilities, new segments and products and contract manufacturing. Also, pharma and defence are promising contributors along with newcomers like electronics,” said Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG enterprises. “The government is looking to revive the capex cycle by allocating Rs 11.11 lakh crore for infrastructure.”
There’s been an increase in manufacturing jobs, driven by factors such as infrastructure development, government initiatives such as Make in India, and technological advancements.
“Key opportunities are emerging in renewable energy, electric vehicles, and strengthening supply chains,” said Sharad Mahendra, joint MD and CEO, JSW Energy. “The growth in manufacturing jobs is primarily due to economic recovery, increased investments, and global supply chain shifts favouring India as a manufacturing hub. These trends will continue to bolster job creation in the sector.”
A bulk of these jobs will be in the construction sector which has been doing very well but it will be a combination of unskilled and skilled labour, he said.
“The electronics sector will also be a major contributor,” said Bank of Baroda chief economist Madan Sabnavis. “On the services side, on the other hand, there has been a slowdown in the IT sector, while BFSI, travel, tourism, hospitality and aviation are doing very well.”
Aditya Birla Group director of HR Ashok Ramchandran said: “With current businesses expanding actively as well as newer players entering manufacturing across many sectors, core and consumption based, the opportunities for new jobs have gone up.”