India has a wage problem, not job problem: Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai

Former Infosys CFO and multi-sector investor T V Mohandas Pai has said "India does t face a job problem, but one of ws, as a lot of low paid jobs being created do t find favor with degree holders."

"India is t producing good jobs, but creating a lot of Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 low-paid jobs which are t fancied by degree holders. India has a w problem, t a job problem," he told a media publicaton. 

Also, India has regional and geographical problems, Pai said. Pai suggested that India opt Chinese model of opening up labour-intensive industries and building infrastructure near coasts, besides investing heavily in hitech R&D to meet aspirations of job-seekers.

"We should look at what China has done. y first opened up labour intensive industry - invited rest of world to come and use its labour and started an export industry. We have t incentivised labour intensive industries. We don't have proper policies, so we cant use our surplus labour," he said.

Pai pointed out that China has also invested heavily in hitech Research and Development in many areas, including electronic assembly and chip creation, by incentivising at lower level to create an eco-system.

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"Thirdly, China built infrastructure near coasts so that infrastructure and supply chain comes down. We have t built infrastructure around coasts," he said. Pai said data on unemployment put out by Centre for Monitoring Indian Ecomy (CMIE) that 11 million jobs were lost in 2018 was erroneous.

"re are flaws in survey methodology for unemployment for group of 15 to 29 years," he said. Pai said best data on jobs was EPFO payroll data, which says 60 to 70 lakh people get formal jobs every year.

Even vehicle sales throw light on job situation in India, Pai said, ding that every year 30 to 35 lakh people get jobs after discounting vehicle purchases.

"For example, India buys about seven lakh tractors, six lakh autorikshaws, seven-and-a--half lakh trucks every year. As many as 28 lakh cars are bought, of which five lakh may require drivers. drivers create 30 to 35 lakh jobs every year," he said.