Real estate, infra sectors short of 20 lakh skilled workers; increasingly difficult to provide affordable housing: NAREDCO chair Hiranandani

Indian Express

2 days ago

The real estate and infrastructure sectors are currently short of 20 lakh skilled workers — a gap that could widen to 50 lakh over the next five years, according to Niranjan Hiranandani, chairman of the Hiranandani Group. Speaking at an industry event on Friday, Hiranandani also flagged declining sales in the affordable housing segment, adding that high land costs around city centres must be addressed for developers to build such housing.
'In real estate and infrastructure, we are 20 lakh skilled workers short in India today… On one side we have unemployment, on the other side we have no skilled workers,' he said at a National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) gathering. Hiranandani is also NAREDCO's chairman.
'This is going to grow in the next five years because of real estate and infrastructure growth — the gap will go to 5 million skilled workers. This is (a) disaster because neither the private sector nor the government sector has been able to fulfill (the demand),' Hiranandani added.
Earlier, in June, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) chairman S N Subrahmanyan had said the group's construction business is facing a shortage of 25,000-30,000 labourers.
'Affordable housing not possible due to high costs'
While he remains bullish on the real estate sector, which he claimed grew by 10 per cent in 2024-25, Hiranandani flagged a dip in affordable housing sales. 'In the affordable housing segment, for the first time in my 45 years in real estate, sales have decreased by 15 per cent. I am talking about the whole country, not just Delhi and Mumbai. This is a big problem that is to be sorted out,' he said.
Since 2020, the Indian real estate market has seen rapid premiumisation, with the share of supply priced below Rs 40 lakh shrinking across key cities and most new launches priced above Rs 80 lakh — driven largely by demand for luxury homes above Rs 1.5 crore.
Hiranandani said while the PM Awas Yojana 2.0 will provide interest subsidy for 1 crore homes in urban areas, building affordable housing near city centres is difficult due to rising circle rates.
'How do you match rising land prices and giving affordable housing? It is not possible today with inflation in the cost of construction, the tax rates which are there, stamp duty rate, GST rate, local authority rates, etc. You cannot make affordable housing close to the city centre where employment opportunities exist,' he told The Indian Express, calling for the government and local authorities to intervene.
'No dip in pan-India housing sales'
In India's top seven residential markets — Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata — overall sales dropped by 3.5 per cent year-on-year in 2024. In the first half of 2025, sales fell 24.3 per cent, according to data shared by property consultancy Anarock.
Hiranandani said there has been no dip in pan-India housing sales. 'If you look at the national level, real housing growth has been more than 10 per cent (in 2024-25). On an annualised basis, it will go up by more than 15 per cent (this fiscal). So it will probably be one of the highest growth years ever,' he said.
Aggam Walia is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, reporting on power, renewables, and mining. His work unpacks intricate ties between corporations, government, and policy, often relying on documents sourced via the RTI Act. Off the beat, he enjoys running through Delhi's parks and forests, walking to places, and cooking pasta. ... Read More