L&T Group is facing a shortage of over 45,000 workers and engineers, said Chairman S N Subrahmanyan on Wednesday. The engineering, procurement, and construction business needs 25,000-30,000 laborers, while the IT and IT-enabled services business is short of 20,000 engineers.
A M Naik, Chairman Emeritus of L&T, mentioned that many Indians are seeking jobs abroad in places like Russia-Ukraine and Israel for better earnings. This manpower issue is not new for L&T, as Subrahmanyan highlighted similar challenges last year when they wanted to hire over 30,000 laborers.
Subrahmanyan explained that the labor shortage is due to high demand for specific skills, faster project timelines, elections, and changes in weather patterns. Adverse weather has affected working hours, limiting work to essential tasks in the afternoons. “We currently need about 20,000 engineers, including those to cover attrition,” Subrahmanyan said.
L&T is helping its workers by providing transport, health drinks, and food at project sites. They also have skill centers to train workers. On the engineering side, a high attrition rate of over 10% makes it even harder to find enough engineers. They currently need about 20,000 engineers, including those leaving the company.
