New Delhi, July 9:

Even as the country’s Sensex reaches the mystical 15,000 points with the economy marching rapidly towards a double-digit growth, Indian industry continues to reel under acute shortage of skilled manpower, states a survey.

In the biotechnology sector alone the shortage of doctorate and post doctorate scientists is a whopping 80 per cent, according to the survey done by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) based on feedback from 20 industry sectors.

Similarly, the food processing industry faces immense scarcity of refrigeration mechanics, electricians, agricultural scientists, coupled with shortage of certificate holders and people trained in short term courses.

The survey also highlighted a glaring manpower crunch in the health sector and according to FICCI, acute shortage of doctors is expected over the next few years, especially anaesthetists, radiologists, gynaecologists and surgeons (particularly neurosurgeons). Large gaps would emerge over the next few years in areas like basic cardiac life support, advanced cardiac life support and advanced trauma life support including shortage of trained nurses.

In the banking and finance sector, the survey shows that in 2006 companies faced an acute shortage in several professional categories. The sector faces a 90 per cent shortage of risk managers, IT professionals — 65 per cent, treasury managers — 50 per cent, credit operations professionals — 75 per cent, financial analysts — 80 per cent, wealth managers - 80 per cent and economic and planning analysts - 80 per cent.

“Skill shortages exists across many segments of the industry and economy of the country. We have in fact moved from a position where not only the technically qualified professionals in various streams are in short supply but there also exists an acute shortage of shop floor workers,” FICCI said. The chamber has urged both the government and industry to take immediate corrective action and focus on building effective resources to address the issue.