New Delhi, April 1 -- Over the past 15 years, the Azim Premji Foundation has constructed many campuses-varying from 80,000 square feet to 2 million square feet and spread across large cities and small towns. We have worked with some of the largest construction firms and smaller ones too. Their performance has varied.

But in one matter, every one of these companies has faced the same trouble on every project. There has been high uncertainty around labour on site. They find it hard to reliably get the number of workers needed on any given day in the skill mix required. Almost all of this labour comes from rural areas, especially from eastern parts of India.

The more effective construction companies maintain rigorous mechanisms and deep ne...