Union Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State, Ministry of Education, Shri Jayant Chaudhary unveiled a report titled “Skills for the Future: Transforming India’s Workforce Landscape”, developed by the Institute for Competitiveness today in New Delhi.
The report prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness (IFC) is an independent effort. Based on the data available in the public domain, the report presents a detailed examination of the skills landscape in India, focusing on educational attainment, occupational distribution, and attainment of technical and vocational education and training of the workforce (TVET).
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education, Shri Jayant Chaudhary, appreciated the initiative and said that such academic exercises help in the betterment of government initiatives.
He further added, “Skilling is to be understood not merely as a supply-side intervention, but as a demand-driven, market-aligned, and outcome-oriented ecosystem that addresses the evolving needs of industry and the workforce.
We must deepen pathways between education, vocational training and industry this includes recognise informal and experiential learning.” Shri Jayant Chaudhary also suggested that a robust employability index will be helpful in monitoring the impact of education and skilling on employment prospects of youth in evolving economic and technological environment.
Congratulating the IFC team, Secretary, MSDE, Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, said that skilling is an area of academic enquiry. In this context, he also stressed on the need for creation of corpus of literature around skilling with data and evidence and at the same time urged further deep diving into structural changes around skilling, education and work continuum.
Chair of the Institute for Competitiveness, Mr. Amit Kapoor thanked the Ministry for the unveiling of the report and expressed his commitment to working with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship for furthering the skill agenda.
The report is a data-oriented examination of India's skills landscape against the backdrop of the emerging knowledge-driven global economy. Unit-level analysis of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has been used in the report to drive useful insights and suggest the way forward.
Data analysis based on PLFS shows that in 2023-24, 88% of India’s workforce is in low-competency occupations, while only 10-12% are in high-competency roles. Using PLFS (2023-24) data, five sectors which accounted for over 66% of vocational training in India have been identified.
These sectors are IT and ITeS, Textile and Apparel, Electronics, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Beauty and Wellness. Further, five high-potential regions within these sectors have been identified using Competitiveness Framework Analysis.
The analysis integrates data from PLFS, PMKVY 4.0 dashboard, Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) dashboards, and the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) to evaluate sector-specific trends in training, certification, and alignment with industry needs.
The report has recommended multifaceted and targeted interventions to develop a resilient and future-ready workforce. It has further recommended a dedicated, standardized data collection system to generate estimates about skill requirements, enable targeted evidence-based reforms and policies.
Further the industries need to be incentivised to recruit from skill-certified talent pool and take accountability for creating market-aligned training, besides offering them higher wages.