Project Management Institute (PMI), a not-for-profit professional membership association, has set its eyes on the developing markets particularly India to develop right skilled workforce in all industries including pharmaceutical and biotechnology. The Institute has envisaged an annual 4 lakhs workforce shortfall.

There is a shortage of trained manpower in project management and it is going to be there in future also. Indian companies will now need to gear up to the challenge to access qualified people dedicated to this field, said Craig Killough, vice president, Organisation Markets, Project Management Institute, USA who was in India in connection with the PMI India awards event in Bengaluru.

Now PMI is close to several departments of the Union government including the Niti Aayog, urban development and PMO to press the importance of project managers for a smooth take off of initiatives like the Make in India, Digital India and Smart Cities. The Institute has also teamed up with state governments of Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to help create a pool of qualified workforce in project management. It has also collaborated with institutes like XLRI Jamshedpur, Anna University Tamil Nadu, Karnataka Administrative Training Institute, Mysore among others to generate the required trained teams, said Raj Kalady, managing director, PMI India.

“With a slew of pharma parks and pharma clusters besides advanced manufacturing plants waiting to take off, scouting for project managers is on the radar of most companies,” said Kaushik Desai, general secretary, Indian Pharmaceutical Association and pharma consultant.

According to a section of placement and recruitment companies, Abbot, Strides Arcolabs, Hospira Healthcare among others in the Indian pharma industry are now increasingly looking to hire project managers to manage small to medium-scale projects with execution accountability, besides deliver excellence by incorporating best practices.

Associating with PMI, both the government, industry and individuals will be trained to identify and sort out process issues besides recommend improvements. They would be able to manage projects and facilitate completion, said Killough.

“Since India is becoming a major economic player on the world stage, it will need to develop and train its personnel in project management. In fact, 60 per cent of the certifications by PMI are outside the US particularly in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America which indicate potential growth for project management training. We would demonstrate the project management issues by providing examples of other countries. Our certificate training programmes would highlight 200 most critical projects, some of which were found to be difficult to complete due to changes in administration and re-location issues. PMI will give a comprehensive overview of the shared practices to mould the human resources with certifications,” added Killough.

Micheal DePrisco, vice president, academia and educational programmes, PMI, USA said that over the last 8 years in India it was associated with over 17 universities to include project management as a specialization.