Labour market and recruitment: education and employability learning from the Indian IT /ITES industry

Abstract

Lack of technical and interpersonal skills in Indian engineering graduates remains one of the major reasons for low employability of young technical graduates and hence it has become a constraint to the growth of the Indian economy. 60% of the country’s population will be in the working age group by 2020 and India has a very good opportunity to take advantage of its demographic dividend. But without a clear educational and competency building road map, it could also turn against it leading to large levels of unemployment amongst the fresh graduates. The Government’s target to skill and employ 500 million people by 2022 shows the urgency of the situation, but it will require a well-defined strategy and effective execution by collaboration between industry, academia, professional institutions and government to achieve the vision of employment for everyone.