123Pune.com

Pune, April 15: Here’s good news for welders, fitters, mechanics and the other blue-collared workers, who are the backroom boys of global automobile giants General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen, Fiat and Tata Motors. According to industry estimates and headhunters, the auto-component sector in Pune will need 15,000-20,000 people in the next five months.

Consider this. Bangalore-based staffing solution company TeamLease Contact Service (TLCS), the blue collar employment unit of TeamLease Services Private Limited, bagged four new clients from the auto ancillary industry based in Pune last month. The new contracts allow the creation of 2,000 new jobs in the next 2 months.

“The auto-component industry is growing faster than the automobile sector. The components are in high demand in Europe particularly in Germany and Italy due to consistency in supplying quality components,” says Rishi Bagla of the Rs 350-crore Aurangabad-based auto components manufacturer, Bagla Group.

Chairman of city-based RSB group, R K Behera says it is because of the faith that automobile giants have in Pune’s auto-component sector.

“In the past one year, every major automobile giant and the auto-component industries are either setting up greenfield projects or expanding their existing capacity. Availability of quality skilled manpower and Pune’s tradition as a manufacturing hub have contributed to its growing auto component sector,” Behera says. Other factors like proximity to Mumbai and connectivity has helped too.

Once an automobile giant comes to Pune, ancillary units and companies closely associated with it toe the line. DSM Engineering Plastics (manufacturing polyamide and polyester pellets) that supplies to the Tatas invested $20 million to set up a greenfield facility at Ranjangaon recently.

Kalyani Lemmerz has expanded its existing facility in manufacturing steel wheels for commercial vehicles apart from setting up a new factory to enter the passenger car segment through its steel wheels.

Most of the jobs in the sector will be blue-collared ones with demand particularly sky-rocketing for welders, fitters, and mechanics which starting salaries depending on the qualification. According to industry sources, a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering will get around Rs 5,000 while an ITI-trained professional can expect Rs 3,000-3,500.

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