Business EconomyPosted at: Dec 6 2025 11:14PM


Indian EPC sector strong in hiring activity: Study

Chennai, Dec 6 (UNI) India’s Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) sector is witnessing one of its strongest periods of hiring activity in recent years, with hiring demand surging 51 per cent since 2020, reveals CIEL HR’s EPC Sector Talent Study, 2025.
The report highlights that the industry required 227,000 professionals in the last four quarters, with Tier 1 cities accounting for 80 pc of this demand, led decisively by Mumbai (23 pc) and Delhi (22pc), reflecting the rising need for experienced, specialised talent across core engineering and project delivery roles that anchor large-scale infrastructure projects.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities contribute the remaining 20 pc of hiring demand, driven largely by execution-focused roles supporting major government and private-sector projects. Lucknow, Jaipur, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam are emerging as important hubs for site engineering, construction management and field operations, CIEL HR said.
According to the study, Roads & Highways account for the largest share of total hiring demand at 26 pc, followed by Power Transmission & Distribution at 15 pc and Renewables at 14 pc.
The EPC sector is being powered simultaneously by India’s infrastructure build-out and its clean-energy transition.
The study highlights that top 10 EPC companies account for about 20 pc of total talent demand, led by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) with over 6,700 active postings, followed by Tata Projects.
Among global capability centers (GCCs), Siemens, Schneider Electric, Samsung Engineering, Honeywell, ABB, Jacobs Engineering, TechnipFMC, Fluor Corporation, GE posted the most number of job postings in the last Financial year.
Commenting on the study Aditya Narayan Mishra, Managing Director & CEO of CIEL HR, said “The EPC sector’s growth story is powered by its people. As projects become more technology-intensive and execution cycles shorten, organisations must strengthen their focus on talent development and engagement, not just recruitment. Building robust learning ecosystems, investing in skill assessment and upskilling, and creating a culture that values continuous learning will be vital to sustaining productivity and safety on the ground. The next wave of leadership in EPC will come from companies that treat talent as their most strategic asset — developing it, engaging it, and aligning it with the country’s infrastructure ambitions.”
Despite these emerging capabilities, the sector is grappling with a widening talent shortage.
The report indicates a heavy reliance on experienced engineers, with 60 pc of all hiring requirements focused on professionals with more than six years of experience.
However, supply in these categories remains limited, creating significant gaps across specialist roles such as commissioning engineers, protection engineers and others.
These shortages are most pronounced in fast-growing clusters including roads & highways, metro systems and renewables.
Other Findings
● Women’s participation in the EPC sector stands at 14%, well below the levels seen in IT and retail sectors. While the participation rate is relatively low, there have been concerted efforts in recent years to improve gender inclusivity, such as policies promoting women’s workforce entry and targeted skill development programs.

● Roads & Highways: There’s strong demand for mid- to senior-level Project Managers and Bridge Engineers, while junior to mid-level professionals in planning, QA/QC, and surveying are also playing key roles. Talent is especially sought after for greenfield expressways, HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) corridors, and bridge projects.

● Railways & Metro: Metro tunnelling, viaduct and signalling projects driving demand for Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS) engineers, Testing and Commissioning (T&C) specialists and Interface roles. Given the talent scarcity and accelerated multi-city metro projects in the pipeline, companies have been offering premium salaries.

● Power Transmission & Distribution: The Green Energy Corridor along with new High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) projects such as the Ladakh HVDC implementation are driving sustained demand for Gas-Insulated Switchgear (GIS) engineers, HVDC specialists and protection engineers. Talent demand is high across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and NCR.

● Renewables (Solar/Wind/BESS): Solar, wind and BESS projects fuel high demand for junior–mid Commissioning Engineer, Integration Engineers and SCADA Engineers.

● Hydrocarbons & Process: Refinery, petrochemical and pipeline expansions drive junior–mid recruitment in commissioning, process, piping, Control & Instrumentation, QA/QC and safety professionals.

● Water & Waste: Urban water and sewage projects require junior–mid engineers, SCADA and QA/QC professionals. Faster adoption of digital twins (virtual replicas of physical assets) and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems is enhancing operational intelligence and real-time monitoring.

●Industrial & Data Centers: Data center expansion sustains junior–mid hiring for MEP, BMS and QA/QC commissioning roles. AI adoption and high-density rack deployments are accelerating demand for advanced cooling solutions.

● Ports, Airports & Marine: Ports, airports and marine projects create junior–mid demand for Marine Engineers, BHS Engineers, Airside and SCADA roles.

UNI VJ SAS RKM
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