Job placement firms expect the government’s renewed push to manufacturing through its Make in India programme to start generating new employment opportunities in the next few months. The government hopes to create a 100 million new jobs by 2022.The firms estimate that 7.2 lakh temporary jobs are likely to be created in the next one year. It would add 8-13 per cent to the current jobs pool as investment into manufacturing, engineering and related sectors rise. They say the Make in India initiative has led to an increase in hiring in these segments as well as e-commerce and Internet-related sectors."Skill development has gained enormous traction with Make in India. The plan to create 100 smart cities is also expected to fuel job growth," says Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of TeamLease Services.Estimates also suggest that refocusing on India’s traditional occupations would potentially create 10 million jobs a year. For instance, the Indian Leather Development Programme trained 51,216 youth in the past 100 days and it plans to train 1,44,000 young persons annually. Four new branches of Footwear Design & Development Institute — at Hyderabad, Patna, Banur (Punjab) and Ankleshwar (Gujarat) — are being set up to improve training infrastructure. The industry is undergoing acute skill shortage and most of the people trained are being absorbed by the industry."There are encouraging signs that Make in India is positively impacting generation of jobs," says Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, CII. "Make in India has the potential to emerge as a force multiplier to provide the emerging workforce with new livelihood opportunities."The government’s economic policy is predicated on more and more workers moving from farms to industries. Sandip Sarkar, professor at the Institute of Human Development, projects that this year the number of youth in the age group of 15-29 in the workforce would be 153 million. This number would rise to 156 million in 2020 and to 158 million by 2025. More than 90 per cent of India’s workforce still works in the informal sector, mostly on under-productive farms.Make in India aims to transform India into a global hub of manufacturing, whose share in GDP would rise to 25 per cent by 2022. It has identified 25 sectors that would get incentives-support and has promised to align policies to boost investments in them. The sectors that would get a government push include those requiring moderate to low skills such as construction, textiles, food processing, and skill-intensive sectors such as aviation, defence equipment manufacturing and electronics."A multiple set of jobs would be needed under the Make in India banner. While some would clearly be niche high-technology opportunities, there will be lakhs of jobs anchored around vocational trades and fundamental engineering," says Prabir Jha, global chief people officer at Cipla.One of the key emerging trends is increased focus on improving skills of employees. "The trend to coach and mentor junior employees and guide them to improve their skill sets would play a significant role in improving skill sets in the coming times," says Aman Attree, HR Head, Hindustan Powerprojects.Skilled workers are required in design and engineering, project planning, execution, erection, commissioning, operations and maintenance, transmission and distribution, trading and regulatory, renewable energy and manufacturing. Talent in many of these areas is still untapped."Make in India is all about increasing Indian manufacturing and the ones who would actually make this happen are shop floor technicians, engineers, designers, programme managers, etc.Therefore, as more and more companies roll out their Make in India plans, the job market will be positively impacted," says Pierre de Bausset, president, Airbus Group India.Airbus is bidding to make the C295 military transport aircraft with the Tata group. The European flying machines maker is also partnering Mahindra Defence to produce helicopters in India. Such large projects often spawn entire ecosystems of suppliers and vendors which potentially means a large number of direct and indirect jobs. "Since our localisation programme will require a highly skilled workforce, we will train the manpower together with our partners here. It will expand the talent pool in India for aerospace and defence (industries)," says Bausset.A policy framework on its own cannot be successful unless a broader ecosystem of robust logistics and supply chain system is in place. The initiative can only be effective if goods manufactured here can be shipped at a reasonable cost, making India a competitive market and production centre. "Supply chain skills will be critical with the support from infrastructure development that the country needs," says Neeraj Sagar, consultant at Egon Zehnder.India is home to some of the best talents in the world, yet a major part of this talent pool remains untapped due to a fragmented marketplace. As investments pick up, companies will be on the lookout for the right talent. R Suresh, managing director of RGF Executive Search India, says even top leaders would need to acquire new skills. Design, technology skills, innovation, experience in operations, sales and distribution are going to be critical skill sets for top managers as well, he says. "The Indian job market has witnessed a substantial upswing in the demand for new work profiles, especially in sectors such as solar energy generation and construction (green buildings, smart homes)," says Rachna Mukherjee, chief HR officer, Schneider Electric India.Though India has the edge of a young workforce, the quality of skills is still a challenge. Of the 14 million people that enter the workforce every year barely 2 million are formally trained. "A huge upgrade of the skilling infrastructure is an obvious requirement. In the immediate term, investing companies will have to plan appropriate hiring and quality induction and training to get to target impact levels," says Cipla’s Jha.