28 February 2023: TheUnion Budget 2023 pushed for a focus on upskilling programs as the central government announced that PMKVY 4.0 will be launched to skill lakhs of youth and set up 30 Skill India International centers across different states to train youth for international opportunities. Initiatives such as this can be fruitful for a country like India as labor-intensive sectors like real estate contribute around 7% of the country’s GDP. A skilled labor force is imperative for the real estate industry to grow and CREDAI has enrolled more than7000 workers under the NIPUN (National Initiative for Promotion of Upskilling of Nirman workers) Initiative, a unique upskilling program for the construction workforce under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India.

The real estate industry is the second largest employment generator in India, and not only provides a livelihood for unskilled / semi-skilled – helpers, masons, bar benders, etc but also provides jobs that are long-term as an average construction cycle varies from 3-5 years. The most important element that decides the pay of construction workers is the level of experience which is also directly proportional to the additional skills that they are adept with. The need for skilled labor is expected to rise even as the economy is on the way to a K-shaped recovery and the nation is experiencing a development renaissance. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce certain programs for the workforce and other more specialised industries, the opportunity to upskill and climb up the value chain from an unskilled helper to more technically proficient responsibilities.

The Government and MoHUAthrough implementing agencies have identified skill shortages in the current construction workforce and have taken an initiative to train them in content that is specially developed with workers’ individual needs in mind. A nationally recognised certificate is awarded to NSDC following an 80-hour training program and third-party assessment conducted by the construction skill council. This certificate gives the labor force, who has never received any official training or skilling—a sense of pride and confidence. Initiatives like NIPUN can be deemed as the need of the hour and the real estate industry stands to benefit from such initiatives of the Government of India.

“The Government echoed CREDAI’s sentiment towards the need for upskilling as they announced the budget for FY 23-24. The welfare of construction workers has been at the core of CREDAI’s values, and we have been working continuously toward their empowerment. It gives me immense pleasure to announce that more than 2 lakh construction workers have benefitted from our skilling initiatives since 2011 and under the NIPUN initiative, we plan to upskill 20,000 workers. We thank MoHUA for rolling-out NIPUN when the construction sector in India is growing at a rapid pace” Mr. Harsh VardhanPatodia, President of CREDAI, said.

While CREDAI has been actively working to upskill our workforce for more than 10 years, they have been able to make a substantial difference through their efforts as they skilled 2 Lakh workers and youth helped them climb up the ladder and become proficient in their job roles. The NIPUN Initiative is a progressive endeavor for the skill development of the construction sector workforce.