Human Resources – Page 2

Housing India’s Construction Workers

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants

The construction sector is one of the largest employment generators in India, and the country will need approximately 76.5 million workers in the building, construction and real estate sector by 2022.

Despite it being a job creation engine for people from the economically weaker section of society, the basic working conditions of construction workers have been long ignored.

Migrant workers are the most vulnerable – they are more often than not forced to work under inhuman conditions, and are simultaneously bereft of any real bargaining power.

Under the labour laws, migrant construction workers are entitled to housing and other social security benefits apart from minimum wages, overtime payments and weekly offs.

However, on the ground, the implementation of this clause of the labour law has been abysmal. In far too many cases today, it can be said that the bottom line literally consumes the bottom of the pyramid.

Without a doubt, a more humane approach needs to be taken towards migrant construction workers. It has previously been suggested that the amount collected through construction cess can and should be used for providing rental accommodation to migrant workers.

by Sukhdeep Aurora

Sukhdeep Aurora, Chief People Officer – ANAROCK Property Consultants

As an industry in the midst of major churn, Indian real estate is now headed towards yet another crossroad.

The previous crossroad – the industry shakeup initiated by the rollout of RERA – necessitated changes in business models and traditional cash flows of developers.

This one will demand newer skill sets and be all about setting tech-savvy, erudite, professional brokers head and shoulders above the kind that has dominated the industry so far.

In terms of career growth, the sky will be the limit for a new breed of brokers who have taken a conscious call to evolve; to up-skill or perish will be two choices left to those who have not.

Technology continues to disrupt a sector that is already en route to achieving unprecedented transparency levels on the back of the latest policy changes, and the Indian real estate sector is also gaining greater global exposure.

More than ever before, foreign investors are focusing on the country’s housing industry, along with NRIs who have been exposed to international standards of doing business.