13 million jobs for logistics by 2022?
Capt. Ramanujam, CEO, LSSC and Neeti Sharma, Senior Vice President, TeamLease Services, opine on a very prominent and crucial topic of engaging more professionals, who are skilled, for the logistics industry.
The logistics sector in India has witnessed very rapid changes and evolvement between infrastructure, the service industry and of course technology. Manufacturing and logistics have a hand in glove relationship and thus logistics activity cuts across sectors and industries. Most logistics companies are seeking solutions that would ensure quicker turn around delivery time, lower downtime and making the entire supply chain process a cost effective one thereby gaining happy customers. Projection of growth The logistics industry is projected to grow at an annual rate of 15-20 per cent by 2022. This will further be increased due to regulatory changes such as GST roll out, Amendment to Roadway bill, Warehousing Bill, Digital/Cashless transactions etc. Other factors such as Growth in consumption, Foreign investments, Innovation, Infrastructure, Market Consolidation, New Technology and IT are instrumental furthering the growth of the industry. The above should also enable reducing the Indian logistics cost. Currently, these costs are about 1314 per cent of GDP , almost double than the average of 7-8 per cent of the developed countries.
Currently, the industry employs over 20 million people within the sector and it is projected that the sector will require over 13.65 million people additionally to cater to the 31 million job requirement within the sector. Job roles
While the logistics sector is a very vast sector and runs across most industries, few key areas of the sector that require skilled manpower are :
Warehousing (Storage & Packaging) Land Transportation Courier & Express Services
Port Terminals/ ICD/ CFS
Export Import Logistics/ Freight Forwarding / Customs Clearance Air Cargo Operations Cold Chain Logistics solutions E-commerce Marine Services, Shipping & Inland Waterways
Supply Chain
There is going to be a steady requirement of skilled manpower within this sector and these job demands can be bifurcated in four large categories :
Pure Play Logistics Job Roles- such as Warehousing/ Courier/Port Terminal &CFS/ ICD Operations/ Air Cargo Operations at Terminals and Air Freight Stations. Demand for these job role requirements are by and large a steady number and will increase depend on infrastructure growth/ EXIM.
Logistics Job Roles in support of Manufacturing & Services such as In Plant Logistics / Line Feeders/ Supply Chain Assistants and Executives: The requirement for these job roles are dependent on GDP growth and consumption and is generally quite variable and also seasonal.
Job roles related with transportation which would include Marine / Aviation: Requirement for these job roles is a continually growing one with newer vehicles coming on roads each year and attrition in the work force.
Start-up companies working on innovative customer friendly solutions as in e-commerce are significant employers of manpower especially for the fulfilment centers and last mile delivery: Many job roles as those in Courier, Driving – both Heavy vehicles as well as Light vehicles, Delivery, Packing & Loading, Warehouse operators, Maintenance, Transportation, Quality control, Inventory Management, Audits, Back Office Operations such as in Global Service Centers, Customer Relationships etc. are in much demand and need skilled manpower. Skilling India There are various ways a job seekers can be associated with the industry. They have the option to be directly employed by the company, or be hired on contract, work with sub-contractors, as consultants, casual / daily wage workers, deployed as apprentices or work as management trainees.
Since the industry has been adopting new technology for betterment of services, the industry expects the job seekers to be skilled with Advanced and Updated Technological Skills, Driving Skills, Better overall understanding of industry with domain knowledge and Multi-tasking / Multi-Skilling Operations.
The industry needs over 13 million skilled employees across jobs over the next five years, i.e. we need to have a training capacity of over 12 million trainees by 2022, roughly translating to about 2.5 million annual training capacity nationally. The Logistics Sector Skills Council (LSSC), has a tough task of being able to skill and certify these 13 million youth before they enter the job market. Says Capt. Ramanujam , CEO of LSSC. “The logistics sector has not had the benefit of any formal training thus far and all skill training initiatives has been done in-house at the Company premises as an ‘On Job Training (OJT).”
Further since a sizeable chunk of the Industry is in the unorganised sector even this has escaped many of the employees. Obviously, this will result in inefficiencies and added cost. The Logistics Sector Skill Council certified training is the only structured training available for the sector. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has taken pioneering steps to address the sectoral requirements by driving the Sectoral Skill Training programmes through the Flagship programmes such as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras, Stand Alone Skill Training Centers, Recognition of Prior Learning Programs, and the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme. RP Rudy, MSDE Minister has been personally interacting with the industry to set up stand-alone skill training centers and ensure that skill trained candidates will be employed by them. It is expected that all this effort will culminate in the country achieving the Hon’ble PM’s vision of India becoming the ‘Skill Capital’ of the world. The Government and associated stakeholders including sector skill council, training institution and logistics firms need to ramp up their training capacity so as to cater to the growing training needs of the sector. It may also involve various efforts including:
Creation of Multi-Skill Development Centres / Kaushal Kendras for every sub-sector addressing the industry demand
Engage the logistics companies to invest in skill development as their CSR activity
Review and update the existing NOS / QP as per the sector requirement
Improve and increase the modalities of vocational courses, ITI’s, etc.
Promote tie-ups with State Development Missions & educational institutes, Promote use of technology for imparting and monitoring training programmes. Many industry Associations such as Express Industry Council of India- EICI, Air Cargo Agents Association of India - ACAAI, Federation of Freight Forwarders Association of India- FFFAI, Association of Multi Modal Transporters of India AMTOI Mumbai/ Chennai Custom House Agents Association, Indian Private Port Terminals AssociationIPPTA, etc, have been delivering training for their Association Members and the LSSC should leverage them to do the training along with the various training organisations focusing on skills training in the logistics sector.
Currently, the industry employs over 20 mn people and it is projected that the sector will require over 13.65 mn people LSSC has a tough task of being able to skill and certify these 13 million youth before they enter the job market