Country facing skilled manpower crunch: survey

NEW DELHI: With the economy posting over 8 per cent growth, skilled human resource is turning out to be a major challenge across all sectors, particularly small businesses and professional (SBP) firms, in the world's second most populous country, a survey said.

Overcoming the shortage of skilled staff is the most formidable challenge for India's small business services providers, said a latest survey by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a business-to-business arm of The Economist Group.

The shortage could be a key reason why firms in this sector are not expanding as quickly as they might wish, said EIU Senior Editor David Line.

Out of 175 SBP respondents, 65 per cent admitted to the above fact.

This is a far higher proportion than the average for SBPs across all industries in India (33 per cent) or the average across Asia (42 per cent), the survey said.

On the whole 80 per cent of the SBPs surveyed in the country employ fewer than 20 people. Sixty-six per cent of SBPs across Asia are of this size or smaller, the survey added.

But the future is not bleak for the sector as SBPs are filled with optimism, backed by the robust growth showed by the country's economy, which is growing faster than any in Asia barring China.

It is this reason that is making the large businesses in the sector expand their operations, the survey said.