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India’s infrastructure delays highlight opportunity for Australian project managers

15 Oct 2013

A shortage of project managers in India has created opportunities for Australian infrastructure firms, according to the Australian Trade Commission’s (Austrade) representative in South Asia.

“A continuing shortage of well-qualified project managers is a key reason for the delay in major infrastructure projects in India,” said Nicola Watkinson, Austrade Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner, South Asia.

Ms Watkinson said India’s traditional reliance on sub-contractors, who have no incentive to train a workforce, was the main cause of the shortage.

“This model is now changing as Indian companies seek to address the need for quality project-management skills by working directly with international partners,” she said.

More than 80 per cent of developers in India were unable to find the project-management skills they needed, the Project Management Institute (PMI) said in a recent report.

The shortage threatened India’s target of developing US$1 trillion worth of infrastructure by 2017, PMI said.

“There are areas of clear opportunity within the infrastructure sector where 100 per cent foreign investment is permitted and where the private sector plays a strong role,” Ms Watkinson said.

“Austrade has been working with Australian business to develop opportunities in projects such as hospitals, hotels, integrated townships and rail,” she said.

Training is another opportunity, she added. PMI predicts India will require 400,000 additional project managers a year until 2022 but the domestic training industry has been slow to respond to the need.

“This presents an opportunity for Australian providers willing to look at an in-market delivery model with a local partner,” she said.

“Already, Australian providers have successfully partnered with Indian training institutes and businesses to offer Australian curriculum and ‘Train the Trainer’ systems in areas such as hospitality, nursing, welding and mining.”

Austrade has conducted an in-depth study of the best business models for Australian companies that want to offer vocational education and training to India’s high-growth project-management market.