Second conclave on ‘Resurgent India through Education’ (Employability and Entrepreneurship)
Date: 19-Jan-2009

The second conclave of the education seminar was held in the auditorium of the Nashik District Maratha Vidya Prasarak Samaj’s College of Engineering . Floral tributes were offered to the photograph of Yashwantrao Chavan, and the lighting of the sacred lamp took place at the hands of all the guest speakers and Mr. P.N. Mogre. Principal Anil Hood gave the introductory address, saying that the golden triangle of Mumbai-Pune-Nashik had an industry-workforce mismatch, which could be rectified through the knowledge gained from such information sessions. Aptitude, viability and feasibility were all important factors which needed to be considered carefully when students made their career choices, since even though unemployment was rising industry was often not able to get the right people. Mr. Hood thanked the IMC for arranging such seminars saying that they brought knowledge and information to the doorstep of all those who could not be reached in any other way.

Mr. Suneet Maheshwari of L and T Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. was the first speaker who began his address saying that some time ago Finance was a great option for young students, but the tide has now turned in favor of infrastructure which had a bright future in India. He exhorted students to enjoy their work, since they would be at it for twelve hours a day for the next twenty five years. He said that infrastructure spending in India was estimated at a colossal Rs. 17.3 trillion over the next five years. Areas in particular need of infrastructure were power, roads, railways and ports and fine career options lay in them for the right people. In India, there were more vehicles than roads for them, and so this area could be gainfully exploited. Inland waterways transportation – on the Ganga, for example – had great scope in future. Unlike finance, infrastructure was largely recession proof since every country needed to have it at every stage of its development process. He pointed to the increasing role of the private sector in infrastructure development – it was almost fifty percent of the total today. He predicted a solid growth in the engineering and construction sector in the coming years, and added that at higher levels a lot of mixing up of work roles took place. The better engineers also became conversant with finance and commercial operations and that invariably enhanced their career prospects.

The next speaker, Mr. Mohan Deshmukh, MD of Deshmukh Builders Pvt. Ltd. said that students had to be the best in any career they chose – and that choice should be dictated by their passion. He said that construction was, after agriculture, the biggest employment provider in India, and that over 200 industries were, directly or indirectly, connected with it. The construction, transport and housing industries were closely related to each other and a growth in one implied a growth in the other. In recessionary times, more is spent on infrastructural projects, like those in construction and housing. He added that 13% of the Indian workforce is employed in the construction industry – 18 million in direct employment and 14 million in indirect employment. Also, since a large percentage of the jobs were outsourced in the construction industry, there was great scope for entrepreneurship within it. The growth rate in the construction sector had consistently exceeded 10%, and for many years had even touched 14 to 15%. Besides, one engineer needed four supervisors, thus providing massive scope for employment. The industry was not able to find the right people. All these facts need to be appreciated by those wanting to make their career in it.

Mr. Deshmukh also added that in 2006-07 there were 3,36,000 engineers in India – which was not enough given the size of our economy, and especially its construction sector. In the housing and construction industries, there is no (or little) job loss, even in a recession. This field has ample scope in two and three tier cities also. He urged students to focus on specialization rather than on generalization, and added that if students understood the importance of hard work, initiative and an entrepreneurial attitude, they would find great career options for themselves in the housing sector.

The third guest speaker, Mr. Prabir Chakravarty, Head, Strategic Marketing of Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. focused on the changes in the Indian construction industry. He said that project ownership was shifting from Government to private hands and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) was now in vogue. In today’s world, having time bound projects had also become critically important. In terms of their size, projects had become much bigger and more complex than in the past. Recent technological progress had changed the rules of the game and hence the students’ needed to mold their skill-sets accordingly. Civil engineering was needed everywhere and techniques of survey work had changed – what had to be done manually earlier could now be done using GPS and helicopter in a fraction of the time. Project management now requires multiple skills and tools, with IT playing an important role. SAP is very useful for civil engineering and its courses are also much more affordable now. Students should avail of these opportunities and constantly upgrade their skills. Their career planning should focus on beginning with big, well known companies and getting themselves suitably trained.

A brief speech was made by Mr. Prakash Patil, an eminent local industrialist. He said that entrepreneurship had to be encouraged in the student community, and gave his own example wherein he was into many extracurricular activities from an early age. He said that students had to constantly focus on hard work and enhancing their decision making ability. He also asked students to keep their egos away – there was no shame in doing any kind of work.

In the question and answer session, the main queries raised were basically about comparing different engineering courses, training for SAP, scope for solar energy infrastructure in India and the effects of the global recession and liquidity crunch on the local infrastructure sector.

In conclusion, Principal Hood called upon Mr. P. N. Mogre to propose a vote of thanks.

P N Mogre
Secretary General