India's Engineering Exports Soar Eightfold as NITI Aayog Pushes for Regulatory Overhaul

India's engineering services exports have skyrocketed nearly eightfold over the past decade, hitting an impressive USD 13.77 billion in 2024-25, according to a recent NITI Aayog report. This dramatic surge underscores the sector's escalating contribution to India's professional services trade and its vital role in creating jobs, yet it also exposes a significant regulatory void that the government's top policy think tank is now urgently pushing to fill. The NITI Aayog report, titled 'India's Services Sector: Insights on Regulatory Regime in Professional Services,' highlights a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.8 percent for engineering services exports during this ten-year period, while imports remained largely stable. This growth is a huge win for the Indian economy, with engineering degrees accounting for over two-thirds of all technical degrees awarded between 2015 and 2022, signaling its importance for the workforce. Despite this, the profession lacks a central statutory framework, a gap that previous attempts like the Engineers Bill have failed to bridge, leaving it without the standardized oversight seen in fields like medicine or architecture. Looking ahead, NITI Aayog is strongly recommending the establishment of a central statutory framework for engineers, particularly those in construction and infrastructure, to ensure minimum standards, enforce a code of ethics, and improve accountability. The proposed Professional Engineer Act, 2025, which aims to create the Indian Professional Engineers' Council (IPEC) to register and certify engineers, is reportedly nearing finalization and expected to be presented in Parliament soon. This move is crucial for India to not only sustain its impressive export growth but also to solidify its position as a global engineering hub, aligning with the ambitious goals of Viksit Bharat 2047.