NEW DELHI (TIP): Looking to expand in India, US-based infrastructure design and consultancy giant AECOM plans to hire 1,500 new employees here as it prepares to participate in initiatives like ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Make in India‘, including for ports and defence sectors.

The $20-billion group, which currently has 2,500 employees in India, is also looking to tap opportunities in ‘Clean Ganga’ and ‘Clean India’ initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its global CEO Michael S Burke said.

“It is the right time to be in India when administration is taking all right steps to grow the economy,” said Burke, who is here to tap new business opportunities and meet top government officials with regard to its interest in various government and P-3 (public-private partnership) programmes for infrastructure and other sectors.

Burke said that AECOM is already involved in some capacity with all of the ten biggest infrastructure projects in India and the country presents much more growth opportunities for the group and its share could grow further going forward in the overall global business of the group.

AECOM, which has eminent banker Deepak Parekh on its global advisory board, is providing consultancy services for various mega projects in India with total construction cost of over $22.5 billion.

When asked about the impression foreign companies have about the new government and whether they had any concerns about factors like ease of doing business, Burke said that the new government is very actively reaching out to the global community and that was sending right signals.