Having seen his firm, Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd., grow tenfold in the last seven years, Chairman and Managing Director Ajit Gulabchand forecasts continuing expansion in infrastructure construction for a decade or more. As he looks forward to increasing business for the rest of his career, his problem is mainly acquiring good, qualified people to handle the work.

While Gulabchand is relaxed about finding engineers, even by importing them, he is more concerned about a dearth of skilled labor. Labor productivity in India is one-twentieth that of the U.S., he reports. He says he is lobbying the government to support training, but that burden is left totally on contractors.