The following is an edited excerpt from the conversation.
Introduction
Elton: Good afternoon, friends. Thank you so much for joining us on the 19th episode of Career Circles Live. My name is Elton, and I’ll be your host for today’s session.
Career Circles are exclusive talent communities by Taggd, where professionals like each one of you can connect with industry mentors, experts, peers and recruiters. Career Circles Live is an extension of these conversations, where we bring together some of the best minds from the industry to share insights and emerging trends with professionals like you.
Without further ado, let’s kickstart today’s session. The theme for today is Careers in Industrial Services for Engineering and Management Talent, with Thyssenkrupp Industries India (TKI) .
It gives me great pleasure to welcome our speaker for today, Mr. Puneet Kalan — an accomplished leader with over two decades of experience across diverse functions in reputed global industrial MNCs. He currently serves as Director and Head of Service Business at CCLP Industries India. Prior to joining TKI, Puneet held leadership roles managing service operations in India at Omnium International, G Power India and Siemens Energy India.
Welcome, Puneet.
Puneet: Thank you so much, Elton. I’m really looking forward to this conversation. I always enjoy talking about industrial services, and I’m confident this will be one of those enriching discussions.Video Plays
Understanding Industrial Services and the Market
Elton: What are your thoughts on the current job landscape in India’s industrial services market?
Puneet: Before I talk about the opportunity itself, let me first clarify what I mean by industrial services.
When I refer to industrial services, I’m talking about the entire lifecycle services that companies offer for their industrial assets. These could be power-generation assets, assets in cement plants, sugar plants, material-handling facilities and similar environments.
If you look at manufacturers of plant and machinery across these industries, they need a strong supply chain for spare parts and highly skilled technicians to service these assets. As the assets age, the requirement extends to engineering, project management and field services for retrofits, life extensions, performance enhancement and emission reduction.
That entire spectrum is what I call industrial services.
From a market perspective, this continues to be a very exciting opportunity. Industry and consulting reports estimate that industrial services in India represent a four to five billion-dollar annual revenue opportunity. More importantly, this market is growing. With India’s GDP projected to grow at 6–8 percent, the industrial sector is expected to keep pace.
The outlook is very positive, both for professionals already in industrial services and for those aspiring to enter this space.
Career Challenges in Industrial Services
Elton: From a candidate’s perspective, though, what challenges do professionals typically face while navigating careers across different industries within industrial services?
Puneet: If I reflect on my own journey of nearly two decades in industrial services, across power and capital goods there are three salient challenges:
- Absence of clearly structured career paths for service professionals. In functions like product development or engineering, many companies have well-defined progression tracks. Services, however, has traditionally lagged in offering equally structured and attractive career paths.
- Lack of formal training, development and certification programs. Many service professionals learn on the job, but there isn’t always a structured framework that defines skill progression over 5-10 years, or certifications that validate expertise across asset categories.
- Many professionals underestimate how fungible service skills really are. Experience gained in one industry, for instance, power — often translates extremely well to another, such as cement or mining. Yet, people sometimes feel “stuck” within a sector, especially during periods of disruption.Recognising the transferability of service skills can unlock significant career opportunities across industries and organisations.
TKI Structure and Services Presence
Elton: Please tell us about TKI’s presence and structure within the industrial services ecosystem?
Puneet: TKI recently celebrated 75 years of operations in India. Today, the company has four strong new-equipment divisions.
One division serves the cement industry through equipment supply and EPC projects. The second, and oldest, focuses on sugar plants and EPC within the sugar industry. The third caters to mining and material handling, where TKI is among the strongest players in the country. The fourth is the energy division, supplying boilers, waste-heat recovery systems and undertaking full-scale EPC power projects.
Each of these divisions is supported by a fifth division, services — which I head. The services division not only supports TKI’s installed base but also provides lifecycle services to other OEM equipment across cement, sugar, energy and mining.
With over 2,500 employees, the services division is one of the largest within TKI. Our work spans parts engineered solutions and revamps, as well as large-scale operations and maintenance deployments across the country.
Hiring and Skill Expectations
Elton: From a hiring perspective, what skills or attributes does TKI look for in service professionals?
Puneet: We recruit across multiple channels. We hire fresh graduates from engineering colleges, diploma institutions and management schools, as well as experienced professionals from the industry.
For freshers, we assess technical fundamentals but also place strong emphasis on cultural fit. TKI combines German engineering discipline with an entrepreneurial Indian legacy, and cultural alignment works both ways.
For lateral hires, technical competence is critical because we are custodians of customer assets. At the same time, cultural fit remains non-negotiable.
What we particularly look for a service mindset. This includes learning agility, assets have lifecycles of 20 to 30 years, and an ability to continuously learn and adapt. It also includes financial awareness, because services must deliver both profitability and cash flow.
For MBA hires, we increasingly use case-based interviews drawn from real business challenges to understand problem-solving and commercial thinking.
Learning, Development and Career Growth
Elton: Once someone joins TKI, how do you support their professional development and growth?
Puneet: Services is fundamentally a people business. Unlike manufacturing or IT, much of the value creation in services happens directly through people.
At TKI, we invest consciously in development. Every new hire is assessed for the complexity of roles they can handle, and customised training plans are created. For operations and maintenance roles, this includes structured technical training and on-site mentoring before independent deployment.
We run a central learning platform with monthly training calendars. We’ve also established a safety academy, with a vision to make safety a key differentiator for TKI in the Indian market.
In addition, we are setting up a formal TKI Training Academy to develop talent from both the market and technical institutions.
Career progression within services is flexible. We’ve seen individuals move from field engineering to project management, sales, operations leadership and eventually business heads. The opportunities are wide-ranging for those willing to learn.
Entry-Level and Lateral Opportunities
Elton: For those watching today, what entry-level roles is TKI currently hiring for?
Puneet: Each year, we hire graduate engineer trainees, diploma engineer trainees and management trainees.
Graduate engineers go through a year-long rotation across functions before settling into engineering or project roles. Diploma engineers typically start at sites in maintenance roles and may later transition into engineering. Management trainees often begin in strategy, sales or business development functions.
For lateral hires, we recruit across engineering, project management, controls, instrumentation and senior leadership roles, depending on experience.
The long lifecycle of services ensures sustained opportunities across functions, with delivery remaining a constant focus.
Innovation and Digitisation
Elton: Innovation is often associated with young talent. How does TKI encourage innovation and technology-led thinking?
Puneet: Innovation underpins differentiation, whether on cost, quality or brand. Technology enables all three.
We actively encourage Kaizen initiatives and continuous improvement, supported by incentives. Our learning academy allows employees to upskill deeply, drawing on decades of in-house expertise.
We are exploring drone technology, AI and Big Data, that provides incremental value.
High-potential employees are sponsored for external leadership and management programs. We also invest heavily in IP, filing patents, contract performance management, and building proprietary technology platforms.
Digitalisation is another passion area for us, from fully digitised O&M workflows to drone-based surveillance, AI-led analytics and predictive maintenance for critical assets like conveyor belts.
Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility
Elton: Beyond jobs and technology, how does TKI approach sustainability and environmental responsibility?
Puneet: Almost everything we do has a positive environmental impact.
Through O&M contracts, we improve asset efficiency, which directly reduces fuel consumption and emissions. Through revamps, we upgrade older assets to meet stricter emission norms.
Staff is also trained to have focus on environmental considerations.
Safety is also a critical pillar of sustainability. We have robust frameworks, trained safety officers and strict operational standards to ensure safe and responsible execution across sites.
DEI initiatives
Elton: And finally, diversity and inclusion?
Puneet: Diversity and inclusion are integral to our business strategy. With operations across regions, we respect work cultural, geographic and gender diversity. We are absolutely cognizant about the needs for people who are working in regions away from their homes.
We consciously design gender-neutral job descriptions and support employees working in geographies different from their own. Without an inclusive culture, it’s impossible to attract and retain high-performing talent in services.
Expert’s Advice
Elton: Before we close, any advice for professionals exploring careers at TKI?
Puneet: Don’t hesitate to change sectors. Service skills are highly transferable. Leverage your networks, reach out to TKI and Taggd. If you’ve done good work in industrial services elsewhere, there’s a place for you here.
Puneet’s Inspiring Journey
Elton: Tell us about your own journey?
Puneet: I began in R&D, moved through project engineering, strategy, operations and business leadership, always within services. The challenges and excitement remain the same: driving profitability, efficiency and growth.
Services may look small on paper, but it often delivers the highest value per employee. That’s why it offers such a compelling career path.
Elton: Thank you so much, Puneet, for your insights and experiences.
Friends, this brings us to the end of today’s session. Thank you for being such an engaged audience. Stay connected with Career Circles for more conversations like this.
You can write to us at careercircles@taggd.in with your feedback.
Have a wonderful weekend.
