Skills gap mismanaged

Source: The post “Skills gap mismanaged” has been created, based on “Skills gap mismanaged” published in “BusinessLine ” on 07th February 2026.

UPSC Syllabus: GS Paper-2- Governance

Context: India faces a persistent skill gap, which has become more prominent due to emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data engineering, and cybersecurity. Industry leaders often argue that graduates are not job-ready, while governments launch skilling missions and universities promise educational reforms. Skill gaps are not a new problem, and India historically addressed them more deliberately than it does today.

Historical Context

1. In the 1990s and early 2000s, India’s IT industry expanded rapidly despite a shortage of job-ready talent.
2. Companies such as TCS, Infosys, and Wipro recruited graduates based on their learning potential, not because they were fully skilled.
3. These companies provided structured training programs lasting three to six months, closely aligned with business needs.
4. Private institutions like NIIT and Aptech supported the effort, creating an ecosystem that bridged industry demand and workforce supply.
5. Many trained recruits built long-term careers within their organizations, demonstrating the value of early-career skilling investments.

Current Scenario

1. Today, most large organizations show limited appetite for trainee hiring or long-term skilling programs.
2. Expectations of “day-one productivity” dominate corporate hiring practices.
3. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 encourages industry-institute partnerships, flexible curricula, credit-based internships, practitioner-led courses, and applied learning.
4. Universities are revising syllabi, establishing innovation cells, inviting industry experts as adjunct faculty, and seeking collaborations.
5. Industry engagement is often transactional rather than deep, which creates a structural bottleneck in improving employability.

Challenges to Industry–Academia Collaboration

1. Complexity of Work:
   1. Modern digital roles such as AI engineering, cloud security, and advanced analytics require deep specialization.
   2. Some emerging roles take 12–24 months to reach full productivity, which increases corporate risk.
   3. Modular learning, apprenticeships, and stackable credentials co-designed with institutions can help reduce risk while preserving entry-level access.
2. Attrition Concerns:
   1. IT-sector attrition often ranges from 15–20 percent, making firms cautious about training investments.
   2. Evidence shows that early-career hires with structured growth pathways demonstrate higher long-term retention than lateral recruits.
   3. Shared-cost training models can reduce individual firm risk while maintaining the talent pipeline.
3. Higher Education Gaps:
   1. India produces over four million graduates annually, but only about half are immediately employable for formal-sector roles.
   2. Outdated curricula and limited industry exposure reduce employability.
   3. Sustained industry participation is crucial for universities to receive real-time feedback on skill requirements.
4. Corporate Responsibility:
   1. Firms benefit from publicly funded education, policy support, and demographic scale.
   2. Historical IT growth succeeded because shared investment in human capital supplemented individual effort.

Policy Recommendations

1. The government should incentivize corporate trainee and apprenticeship programs.
2. Deep, meaningful industry-institute partnerships should be rewarded, not symbolic collaborations.
3. Consortia-based training infrastructure can reduce corporate risk while sustaining workforce development.
4. Public funding should be aligned with employment outcomes rather than merely enrollment statistics.

Conclusion: India faces a paradox of a young population with rising educational aspirations alongside persistent graduate underemployment. Skill gaps will always exist, but structured, scalable, and modern entry-level skilling can bridge this divide. India’s historical IT success shows that prioritizing potential over perfection, supported by policy alignment and shared investment in human capital, delivers long-term economic benefits.

Question: How can industry–academia collaboration and corporate training address India’s skill gap? Suggest measures to improve employability.

Source: BusinessLine