A global symbol of offshoring, India benefits from the massive availability of its workers, including throngs of tradesmen on the construction site. The growing Indian economy depends on the world's second-largest population—soon to become the world's largest, overtaking China, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections—to consume more products as its quality of life improves in this emerging market. This raises a question: Will cheap labor stick around as India's workforce moves up the economic ladder?
One factor is the steely bond between man and materials. Walk around a jobsite today in India, and you'll see a mix of skilled and unskilled work: Cutting rebar, welding hangers, stacking bricks. In India, most of these tasks revolve around the availability of cheap labor.