BANGALORE: Job seekers in India now have reason to rejoice as the year promises plenty of job opportunities for them. Government’s ambitious projects like Make in India and Smart Cities is expected to generate about 5 lakh jobs in FY17, as per the employers, reports ET.

Jobs for workers in the sectors of rail and metro transport, construction, energy, especially renewables, ports and other infrastructure is likely to witness a four-times surge according to ManpowerGroup India, Kelly Services and TeamLease Services. This jump in the number of jobs will also increase the present salaries of the leadership roles to more than 1 Cr. The leadership and the mid-level job roles will witness an increase of about 30 pct in the salaries by 2017.

"The forecast till 2020 is that about 16 lakh jobs in the space of new projects across all sectors would be added and by 2016-17 we are looking at over 5 lakh new jobs being added from new projects," said Rituparna Chakraborty, president of the Indian Staffing Federation and TeamLease senior vice president.

These new projects include Schneider Electric India offering jobs in the sectors of industry automation, power, renewable energy, oil and gas, buildings, residential and energy management.

"Make in India campaign is definitely a trigger for creating additional avenues for project execution and project managers," said Rachna Mukherjee, chief human resources officer at Schneider. "Looking at the current demand of the profile, these profiles will start seeking a premium from a compensation standpoint in future."

"Crore plus salary is a new phenomenon for the project directors but still there is no adequate talent as suddenly the momentum has picked up in rolling stock, infrastructure, etc.," said a partner at another leading search firm. Shapoorji Pallonji, Alstom, Azure Power, Hindustan Powerprojects, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance and the Adani Group are amongst companies presently looking for workers.

On the other hand companies with new projects want to recruit engineers having a basic knowledge of finance. "Companies are looking out for people who can understand the importance of quality, financial planning and most importantly ensure adherence to the timelines," said Ratul Puri, chairman of Hindustan Powerprojects.

The increasing demand for workers may increase the pay levels especially at the leadership roles by 25-30pct in the coming year. Project managers, programme managers specialized in engineering or technology along with finance experience are likely to be in high demand. The upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor development project alone will require 9 million people in project managerial roles.

"Demand for project management professionals is largely due to the need to optimise investments, resources and time allocation for projects," Karanth said. Project managers need to be agile and abreast of innovations in technology, said AG Rao, group MD at ManpowerGroup India. "In addition to the country's ever-strong IT sector, India's top hiring industries include healthcare, and oil and gas," Rao said.

Recruiters are looking for project managers updated with the latest technological skills to bring about agile approaches to solve problems.

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