Outlook for global economy and integrated facility management sector

The Ukraine- Russia war had a global impact with several upheavals and disruptions, but the Indian economy has shown unprecedented resilience owing to its exponentially growing in-house production capacities and swift adaptation of newer technologies to reduce the dependencies from import-export markets. With the seemingly inevitable scenario of “China Plus One,” most countries are looking to leverage India’s central location and availability of resources as a backup to China. Additionally, the fragility of the Chinese economy and its political overtures were never so exposed as they are today. However, it would be outlandish to claim that India will replace China. Both will have to coexist for the greater global good.

The India story is being spelt at many parameters at the same time. While massive hiring sprees in IT and ITES continue, new sectors like energy, manufacturing, warehousing and KPOs are adding newer business horizons for the facilities management business. This, along with the exponential push towards infrastructure especially in tier 2 and 3 cities, has further reinforced the already robust in-house demand (especially from young people). Amidst all the gloom enveloping advanced economies, India has emerged as an island of hope. In recent times when global stocks plummeted, Indian stocks were held back strongly by its domestic retail investors. Further, the continuously increased government spending on infrastructure projects has ensured capital inflow and circulation right across. Sectors like warehousing and manufacturing have never shown such promising trends for the IFM sector which allows us to look beyond the traditional IT services-based clientele.

India’s shift towards digital payment modes during the pandemic has paved way for less resistance to technology adoption which shall help all sectors to reach their potential consumers faster and seamlessly. Technology interventions have filled the gaps in many aspects of IFM as well. The adoption is only going to get better and stronger.

Two of the key megatrends leading the economic growth are the mass urbanisation of tier 2 and 3 cities and the other is outsourcing partnerships to hedge out risks and improve core competency. Outsourcing of non-core and near-core services continues to push the envelope for the IFM sector and this has augmented well for PSIPL with its strong SOP and technology.

driven strategies, paving way for a 40% top-line growth in the current fiscal over the past financial year.

Today, more of our clients are seeking services that are highly business-critical for them and want us to be a partner in their growth story. This includes uptime management for their facilities, critical assets upkeep, vendor management and intervention to help them become compliant on the ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) aspect as well.

Our commitment on the ESG front has been undeterred as we continue to offer clients a guaranteed energy savings-based proposition to help them meet their carbon neutral and ESG goals. Development of new cities means organisations like PSIPL will have to work on creating effective processes to ensure service delivery on one end and skill upgradation and development on the other. PSIPL has been at the forefront of leveraging technologies to automate many of its mundane repetitive work using RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and use this bandwidth on skill development. This not only helps us with our current projects but also keeps us future-ready. Our unique training and quality benchmarks like FMDP (Facility Manager Development), OMDP (Operation Manager Development Program) and FQI (Facility Quality Index) shall soon become industry benchmarks and drive the next level of change in the service delivery ecosystem in the IFM space.

About the author: Deepak Shanbhag is the CEO of Property Solutions India (PSIPL), a Kalpataru group company.