India is building faster than ever. Airports, highways, metros, smart cities, and green buildings are reshaping the nation’s landscape. Yet, Architect Harkunwar Singh, CEO and Co-Founder of Novatr, warns of a silent but critical crisis: a massive shortage of Building Information Modeling (BIM) experts. Without this skilled workforce, India’s ambitious infrastructure growth risks slowing down, falling short of efficiency, and losing global competitiveness.
By 2030, India is projected to become the third-largest construction market in the world. Modern infrastructure demands integrated digital workflows, making BIM an essential tool for collaboration, cost optimization, and asset lifecycle management. However, Singh points out that India’s BIM adoption remains slow, lagging far behind countries like the UK and Singapore, where BIM is already mandated for public projects. The result is a cycle of delays, cost overruns, and inefficient planning, which erodes productivity and increases the risk of wasted resources.
Singh identifies three key reasons behind this digital talent gap. First, India’s outdated education systems still rely heavily on theory, offering limited hands-on training with modern tools. Second, fragmented industry upskilling programs lack structured, project-based learning, leaving professionals underprepared. Third, there is low awareness about BIM’s transformative potential, with many stakeholders still seeing it as a “nice-to-have” rather than an essential tool for modern project delivery.
The stakes of inaction are high. Persistent inefficiencies will continue to inflate costs and delay projects, while the lack of digital readiness could deter global investors increasingly seeking modern standards. Sustainability goals could also take a hit, as BIM is central to creating green buildings and resource-efficient infrastructure that support long-term climate resilience.
To bridge this critical gap, Singh calls for a multi-pronged approach. Education systems must modernize curriculums to make BIM and digital workflows core skills in architecture, engineering, and construction courses. Industries and academia should collaborate to create hands-on, project-based upskilling opportunities accessible to students and professionals across the country. Governments and private players should incentivize BIM adoption, integrating it into large-scale infrastructure and real estate projects. Finally, an industry-wide awareness push is needed to drive cultural and digital transformation across the sector.
“BIM professionals don’t just use software—they orchestrate collaboration that saves time, money, and resources,” Singh explains. Scaling this expertise will empower India to build smarter, greener, and safer infrastructure. His message is clear: India needs 10 times more BIM experts by 2030. The time to act is now.
