India’s EPC sector set to add 25 million jobs by 2030: Report

India’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) sector is on track to create more than 25 million jobs by 2030, driven by accelerating infrastructure development across the country, according to a new report.

CIEL HR’s EPC Sector Talent Study, 2025 shows the sector has become one of India’s strongest job engines, registering a 51 per cent rise in hiring demand since 2020. More than 85 million people are currently employed across the organised and unorganised segments of the EPC sector, with around 7–8 million professionals working in top firms.

“As infrastructure development across the country expands, the rise in hiring will continue, with the EPC sector expected to generate more than 25 million jobs by 2030. As millions enter the labour pool each year, the sector will continue to absorb a significant share of India’s workforce,” CIEL HR Managing Director and CEO Aditya Narayan Mishra told PTI.

The EPC Sector Market Outlook 2025 Study is based on a quantitative assessment of 2,27,000 job postings between July 2024 and August 2025 across leading job portals.

The study notes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not threaten EPC jobs and is instead expected to accelerate project momentum by improving on-site efficiency, planning workflows and supply chain management.

“India’s development model is now focused on balancing growth between rural and urban regions. As rural infrastructure expands, the need for manpower will only rise. The government is also set to encourage deeper private participation to fuel this expansion. Taken together, India’s Viksit Bharat vision will require a substantially larger workforce,” Mishra said.

The report shows the industry required 2,27,000 professionals in the last four quarters, with tier I cities accounting for 80 per cent of this demand. Mumbai (23 per cent) and Delhi (22 per cent) led hiring, reflecting the need for experienced talent in engineering and project delivery roles across large-scale infrastructure initiatives.

Tier II and III cities contributed the remaining 20 per cent of demand, driven largely by execution-focused roles supporting major government and private projects. Lucknow, Jaipur, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam are emerging as key hubs for site engineering, construction management and field operations.

Roads and Highways generated the highest share of hiring demand at 26 per cent, followed by Power Transmission and Distribution at 15 per cent and Renewables at 14 per cent.

The study also highlights widening talent shortages across the EPC space. Around 60 per cent of open roles were for professionals with over six years of experience, but supply remains thin across specialist positions including commissioning engineers, protection engineers, BMS specialists and road safety engineers.

These shortages are most acute in high-growth clusters such as roads and highways, metro systems and renewables, the report added.