Interim Budget 2024: 14 million youths skilled, but closer industry-academia ties needed

Though the sustained focus of the Centre’s Skill India Mission has resulted in the training of 14 million youths, experts say closer industry-academy ties for better skill mapping are required for the government’s efforts to yield desired results in a country where 10-12 million people enter the labour force every year.

“The Skill India Mission has trained 1.4 crore youth, upskilled and reskilled 54 lakh youth, and established 3000 new ITIs,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Interim Budget 2024-25 speech on Thursday which served as a progress report of the current dispensation’s 10 years in power.

A large number of new institutions of higher learning namely 7 IITs, 16 IIITs, 7 IIMs, 15 AIIMS and 390 universities have been set up, the minister highlighted in her hour-long budget speech -- a vote on account as India will head to general elections in a few months.  

She also pointed out that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is ushering in transformational reforms and PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) are delivering quality teaching, and nurturing holistic and well-rounded individuals.  

“We need closer coordination between the academia and the industry, one of the significant pillars of the NEP. Secondly, we need to encourage the industry to create jobs and contribute towards preparing our youth for the global skills demands,” said Aditya Narayan Mishra, Managing Director & CEO - CIEL HR Services. He added that the private sector is optimistic that the employability gaps of the graduates will be bridged sooner than later.

India has a workforce of 574 million people or 41% of our 1.4 billion population, as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2022-23.  More than 250 million are in agricultural jobs and 10-12 million join the labour force every year. While India has the advantage of a young talent pool, most of them are in informal jobs.

Labour economist Shyam Sundar says that despite all initiatives with respect to skilling, employers and organisations have maintained that the state of employability of people in India is poor. “It is not clear whether the skills they have received is relevant to the industry. The government must undertake skill mapping at a micro level along with trade unions and employers to design a skilling strategy. That will deliver important results,” says the Adjunct Professor at MDI Gurgaon.

For instance, the skills in demand in the auto belt of Pune will be different from those required in a textile industry-reliant region, he adds.

Several studies by the likes of National Skill Development Corporation and the National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship show a serious skill deficit in the population. Organisations also have been pointing out the poor employability of college graduates.

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